


A Summer Without End

by Foxipaw



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: (Except for them), A fic exploring what life might look like as the cast moves into adulthood, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bye-bye Belos, Details of the conflict to emerge over time, Everyone on the Isles is aware that they are dating, F/F, Found Family, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Luz Noceda has ADHD, Mutual Pining, PTSD, PhD Student Amity, Post-War, Rated for swearing and flashbacks, Slow Burn, War Hero Luz, i don't know how to tag things, long fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:07:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 64,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26699524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxipaw/pseuds/Foxipaw
Summary: Luz Noceda, having finally completed her human schooling, is at long last free to make her move to the Boiling Isles permanent. Belos may have been defeated but the memories of war are still fresh in everyone’s minds, and every member of this found family will need to lean on one another as they take their first steps into the next stage of their lives. With Willow and Gus both having placed well into their covens, Amity making the most of her newfound freedom to delve into the mysteries of wild magic, and Luz continuing to train under Eda’s wing, things are sure to stay interesting!(Especially now that neither Amity nor Luz have any excuse to disregard their feelings for one another, which are undoubtedly stronger than ever...)
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 380
Kudos: 707





	1. The Party

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all! This is my first time writing in a long while. I'm not sure what the update schedule will look like just yet, so bear with me as I get back into the groove of things. I just love Lumity so much, and the Boiling Isles is a fun world to play around in. I have a loose plan for where this fic is going to go, and I'd love to hear feedback and suggestions if you have any!
> 
> Alright, onto the fic!

Luz leaned against the living room wall, watching with a small smile as her Mom chatted with the Park family by the door, likely about Willow’s recent placement in the Botany Coven. The idea of them splitting their graduation party had been mostly Luz’s doing. Maybe better phrased as _all_ of Luz’s doing, seeing as it wasn’t really a custom here. Luckily with Gus’ enthusiasm for ‘undertaking new human traditions’ by her side, it had turned into a real blow out.

Camilia on her part had been more than a little… surprised. It was hardly her first time in the Boiling Isles, having often stayed for an hour or so when she dropped Luz off on weekends. And sure, Luz had always talked about her friends here, usually at great length. Somehow, the fact that Luz had never managed to do the same about school friends back in Oregon left her not expecting… this.

Witches and demons of all ages and sorts seemed eager to chat with Camilia, but that shock at least wore off early. All of them had a story about Luz. That time she had helped their youngest, or that time she had tripped in the market, or that time she and Eda had saved them during the war…

Alright. Maybe not all the shock had worn off completely. Not yet. It was getting easier, the more Camilia was able to fill in that two month gap. The first Sunday that Eda had not returned with Luz was okay. Unusual, but certainly not the first early Monday drop off they’d had to roll with. But then Monday had passed, along with Tuesday and the rest of the week, and then another.

Needless to say, when Luz _had_ tumbled back through the portal, bandaged but smiling from ear to ear, there were more stories to share than she had time to tell. It was nothing short of a miracle that Luz had been able to catch up on her coursework after her bout of mono (as far as the school was concerned, at least,) and finals week was nothing compared to overthrowing an Empire.

Now, they were here.

Eda backed out of the kitchen and into the living room, calling out over the din, “Alright! Last round of Mama’s special punch before I toss you heathens out on your asses! Come and get it.” The witch set her tray down on the small table near the couch, and Luz grinned as the masses fell in.

An unexpected voice at her elbow made her jump. “I’m kinda sad that it’s ending, you know?” Willow stared at the crowd with the same wistful smile.

Luz snorted. “It’s sure been some party. Kinda surprised Eda pulled it off. Only one minor explosion, too.”

Willow waved that away. “Too true. But I guess I didn’t just mean the party. Feels like…”

Her friend trailed off but Luz could fill in the gaps easily enough. After tonight things were changing. For _all_ of them. Gus and Willow both had scored good initial rankings in their covens, which meant extra work on top of Integration starting next week. Luz and Eda were diving headfirst into reconstruction of the Isles, seeing as Lilith had taken a seat on the newly formed council. Classes and homework would be traded for meetings and projects.

“Feels like the ending of an era,” Luz said with a smile.

Willow hummed. “Yeah. Something like that.”

Luz turned and grabbed Willow by the shoulders, shaking her a little. “But the beginning of a new one! And it seems like it’s gonna be pretty great.”

Willow couldn’t help but laugh at that, even if she shook out of Luz’s grip while she did so. “Now that you’re back for good, I’m sure we’ll be wrapped up in new trouble before long.”

Maybe it should have worried her, but instead Willow’s words had Luz’s chest filling with butterflies. It had been four long years, but finally… _Finally!_

Suddenly, the front door was flung open and Luz and Willow’s heads turned along with, well, everyone else. They were met with a rather ruffled looking Hooty and a golden-eyed witch who seemed approximately fourteen seconds away from murder. Luz gasped and rushed to sweep her up in a hug.

“Amity! You made it!”

Both of them had changed over the last four years, not least notably being that even if Amity still flushed to be picked up and spun around in front of at least two dozen other people, she laughed and just let it happen. Her hair was no longer green, but a pale blue, and last week it had been purple. Both had grown of course, but even with her signature heels on Luz still stood a good few inches taller.

Amity gave Luz a quick squeeze of her own once her feet were back on the ground. “Those clerks really can talk forever. Ed and Em are closing up with them so I was able to sneak away.”

Luz beamed. “I owe them one, then.”

“As long as you know better than to tell _them_ that.”

“Obviously. Come on, come say hi to Mami!”

Luz grabbed Amity’s hand and began to thread the pair back through the crowd, pleased with all the smiles and greetings Amity was receiving, and pleased more so with how natural all that felt. It had been a long road, especially when the Blights sided so openly with Belos during the rebellion. It took most Boiling Islanders longer than it should have to realize their children never appeared with them during the speeches and marches and battles.

“Mami! Look who finally decided to show up,” Luz mocked, and received a punch to her shoulder for her efforts once Amity dropped her hand.

Camilia rolled her eyes at her daughter, ignoring an indignant “Hey!” as she gently shoved her aside in favor of sweeping Kid #2 up in her own motherly hug.

“Hola Amity. It’s good to see you, niña.”

“It’s good to see you too, Ms. Noceda.” Amity’s blush continued to bloom. Privately, she thought that the way Luz’s mother just poured out maternal love was a wash of warmth, particularly after her own experiences. In practice she still wasn’t entirely used to it but she was trying.

Pulling back, Camilia held her at arm’s length to look her over. Amity fidgeted. “¡Dios mío! You look lovelier every time I see you. Blue is a wonderful color on you, mija.”

“T-thank you.”

“Mami, don’t pester her!” Luz pulled Amity free, and would have sworn she saw the Windows error screen flashing behind her friend’s eyes, fighting with what to say next.

“I am not pestering, cariño, I am only speaking truth. Besides, who knows when I’m going to see her again!” The way Amity’s ears drooped, even slight as it was, did not go unseen by the older woman. “And why are you here bossing your mother around when you should be getting ready to make your announcement, hm?”

“Oh, crud!” Luz whirled around, searching for King. If the microphone was anywhere, it was with him. “You’re right!” She dashed off, disappearing quickly into the throng.

Camilia chuckled, and turned back to Amity. “I take it she hasn’t filled you in yet, hm?”

Further her ears dipped. “No, not really. I thought she might be avoiding the topic, actually.”

“You give my daughter too much credit.” At Amity’s questioning glance, Camilia went on. “Bright as she is, I think sometimes her mind moves so quickly she forgets that others do not necessarily know what’s going on in there. My guess is she just assumed you had already worked it out.”

Amity shrugged. That certainly sounded like Luz. For her part, she had _absolutely_ been avoiding the topic, terrified of what Luz’s answer might be. Of course she loved the Boiling Isles, and loved magic, and loved Eda and King and her… uhm, _friends_ . Eda and King and her friends. Right. But after a lifetime being told to doubt her abilities, to try harder, that being the best wasn’t actually the best if you could be _better_ , Amity had been left wondering.

“Hellooo Owl House!” Luz’s voice crackled over the speakers. Camilia and Amity both turned to see Luz now propped up on the stair’s railing herself, with King jumping and scrabbling at her leg in a feeble attempt to reclaim the mic.

Conversations dropped off as the other party-goers tuned in as well.

“Our little get-together here is wrapping up, and I wanted to thank everyone for coming to celebrate mine and Willow’s graduation, and for all the well-wishes for our futures. Seriously, you guys rock!”

She paused for a smattering of applause, and waved Willow over.

“Now as you all know, Willow was accepted into the Botany Coven as an Adept, blowing past the Initiate and Novice ranks, because she’s just awesome like that! So we already know amazing things are lined up in her future.”

Willow flushed a bright red at the loud cheers, loudest of all tied between her dads and Gus, who had made a few copies of himself to join in. Luz waited, letting Willow bask in the embarrassment of it all until the clapping and whistles died out on their own.

“For me, things are a little different, what with the whole ‘being a human’ thing. Much as I appreciate all the curiosity about human schooling, I promise you it’s just as boring as it sounds. Willow got to animate fatally venomous snapdragons and I got to do math homework. It was tough, but I knew I had to push through because of a deal my Mami and I made four years ago, when I first found the Boiling Isles.”

Luz gestured with sweeping hand to where Camilia stood, and someone somewhere must have cast a spell because there was suddenly a spotlight shining down on her. Amity tried to sidestep away from all the sudden attention, but not before Luz caught her eye. Amity flushed.

“If I could endure the tortures of human schooling and complete my human education, when I turned 18 I’d have the choice. Use my human education for human things, or use my overall lack of Boiling Isles education to somehow do Boiling Isles things. And I know you’re probably thinking the second option sounds crazy. It sounds a little crazy to me too.”

Amity felt something constrict in her chest. She looked down at her toes. Maybe she should have stayed with Edric and Emira after all. She’d spent so long fearing this day, and she’d gone out of her way to subject herself to it anyways. She had to be the biggest idiot on the Boiling Isles. At least, she thought so for that brief second until Camilia elbowed her in the side. Amity looked up to see Luz staring straight at her.

“But the thing is, I’ve met some really awesome people here. Eda has taught me as much as she can, and I know there’s more where that came from. After all, she is the most powerful witch in the Boiling Isles.”

“Damn right I am!”

“And even if it doesn’t come easily to me, I once told someone a long time ago that I planned on training hard to become a witch. Good thing she unbound our everlasting oath about it too, because she had just kicked my butt in a duel right before that.” Amity flushed a _brilliant_ scarlet color, and tried her best to ignore Camilia’s chuckles right beside her. Sure, the rest of the room was laughing too but Amity had a strong feeling that her laughter was… different.

“Everything changed for me after that. Even before my Mami and I made that deal, I think my mind was made up that day. So you here are the first to hear it. I’m 18, I’ve graduated, and I’m here to stay!”

The cheer was deafening.

Now, Luz was popular and relatively well known in the Isles these days after being on the forefront of the conflict with Belos. Even if the team that had stormed the castle remained close-lipped about what had actually gone down that day, it was still common knowledge that without Luz there was a good chance that they would all still be under Belos’ thumb. To hear that one of the heroes of the war was starting a new life among them was enough to lift anyone’s spirits.

But for Amity, it was something else entirely.

Luz handed the mic back to King, and it wasn’t but a moment after hopping back down to the floor that she was swept up in a squeezing hug. Caught off guard at first, Luz was quick to wrap her arms around Amity’s shaking shoulders.

“Wha-? Amity, what’s wrong?” Concern shot through her voice, even if she smiled and squeezed her friend tighter.

Muffled against her shoulder, Luz heard, “I’m just really glad you’re staying.”

Luz tucked the other girl under her chin and rocked them a bit. “Yeah. Me too.”


	2. The Afterparty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clean-up crew tackles the mess, speaks of the future, and Luz gets one more gift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen I know I posted Chp. 1 earlier today, but I figure two chapters gives people a better idea of where the story is headed? Maybe? Mostly, I spent all day writing so I figure y'all should reap that benefit too.

Luz flopped down onto the couch, boneless with exhaustion. It was sometimes too easy to forget that hours of socializing could really do some damage to the ‘ol internal batteries. The party had been a huge success and there was even a small table where gifts had been laid out. Eager as Luz was to tackle that, the thought of moving just now was unconscionable.

“Alright lazybones, time to tackle the mess!” Eda appeared from the hallway brandishing a broom, duster, and mop, as if she had been granted a window into Luz’s deepest and most terrible nightmares.

Luz grabbed a pillow and groaned into it.

“Now, now, none of that. The longer we wait, the more likely it is we’ll have King deputizing the balloons.” Luz knew she was right, if only because they’d caught him at his usual attempts at boot camp several times while they were setting up earlier that morning. That didn’t mean she liked the idea any better.

“What’s wrong with a few inflatable minions?” She asked, muffled through the pillow.

“The dramatics when he pops ‘em, for one thing. For another, Lily is bringing over some stuffed suits from the council tomorrow to talk clean-up in the forest nearby. If it still looks all cozy I’m worried they might try to stay longer.” Eda paused to crack her knuckles and look over the carnage.

Willow’s head poked out from the kitchen, along with the edges of an armload of leftovers in spelled containers. Her dads had left earlier on mysterious business, apparently, but Willow had promised to take the extra food to one of the nearby refugee shelters and was gathering up the last of it. “Cleaning up already?”

“No rest for the wicked!” Eda chimed back. “And the Bad Girl coven definitely qualifies there.”

Amity stepped out of the kitchen as well, drying her hands on a rag. She looked back over her shoulder to where Gus and Camilia were stacking the last of the dishes, then asked, “Want a hand? If Gus and Willow can stay too, should go twice as fast with double the people.”

Luz sat up in a flash, pillow-muffler falling forgotten to the floor. “Help equals less cleaning equals happy Luz. Yes please.”

Luz was rewarded with an eye roll and huffed laughter, but true to word with her friend’s aid the time flew by. That’s not to say the work got done any faster, but Luz definitely had a lot more fun. Besides, wrestling the last of the balloons away from the King of Demons and Latex was a top contender for most laborious endeavor undertaken.

By the time they were at last gathered around the newly scrubbed and sparkly clean kitchen island everyone could count themselves truly exhausted, but content. Hooty had been able to eat most of the garbage, which was horrifying to watch but convenient overall, and even King had pitched in here and there until ultimately passing out in his usual spot on the couch.

“Man,” Luz said around a yawn, “I’m going to sleep like a rock tonight.”

Eda snorted. “No kidding. Next time you ask me to host, just go ahead and mute-glyph yourself first. Save us both some time.”

Luz rolled her eyes and sighed, but smiled still as she made her way around to the other side of the counter to give her mentor a hug. “Thanks for all this, Eda.” Neither noticed Camilia subtly photographing their moment. Whether it was going to be blackmail material for the notoriously prickly woman, or just a memory of a pleasant domestic moment she hadn’t yet decided.

“Don’t mention it, kid. Besides with you being here full time now, I doubt a party is the worst thing you’ll manage to inflict on this place.”

Luz pulled away and beamed. “Probably not.”

Gus cocked his head at the pair and asked, “That’s a good point, actually. What _are_ your plans now that you’re back for good? Like studying magic obviously, but that’s still pretty broad.”

Luz shrugged, alarmingly unconcerned. “Don’t know, really! I don’t think Bump offers night classes at Hexside exactly, but I’ll figure something out. And there’s plenty of paying work with all the rebuilding going on so I’m sure there’s something out there that’ll put a few snails on the table.”

“Ay dios mio,” Camilia muttered, rubbing her temples.

“It’ll be fine, Mami! Don’t worry so much.”

“Wait until your kid runs off to a demon realm with no plan, and then tell me not to worry, hm?” Camilia reached over to ruffle Luz’s hair. Which was good, because for all Amity knew it meant no one saw heat in her cheeks at the idea of Luz running around with a few mini Luz’s by her side. Criminally adorable idea.

At least, until Willow piped up. “You know Luz, I’m sure Amity could work something out for you.” There was an evil glint in her eye. A look of knowing _exactly_ what she was doing, and Amity could have strangled her for it.

Luz perked up immediately, hands slamming down on the counter top. “What? Really?” She paused only to breathe, but it seemed to be enough time for her brain to catch up with her mouth. “Hey, yeah, we haven’t really talked about it. I knew you weren’t planning on joining a coven, but what _are_ you doing after this Ams?”

There had been a time when Amity wasn’t sure there would ever be a nickname that affected her more than ‘Mittens,’ but Luz had honed in on it like a tracker spell. Of course, this wasn’t sibling-induced rage, but… Other things. Distressingly, Luz used it quite often.

And wow, wasn’t that a loaded question, too. First of all, surprisingly she was right, they _hadn’t_ talked about it much. Partially due to the fact that Amity took a hard left anytime their conversations had drifted towards the future, and partially because Luz had just assumed it was a sensitive topic. What with Amity’s parents being jailed and the twins inheriting their business and Amity suddenly being free to pursue her actual interests and all. Put all of it together, and Luz realized she really didn’t have a clue. And maybe shouldn’t have asked about it. But she did. Oops.

Amity stuttered as her brain buffered, trying her damnedest to make actual words come out. She failed spectacularly, and Luz rushed in to fill the gap.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to! Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. I know it’s weird for you right now so, like, just forget I said anything. Who knows what the future will hold! So many mysteries. Not to mention- Oh, I’ve been talking for too long.”

Eda tipped her head back in laughter and the others (minus Amity) seemed to be amused too. It was always a hoot trying to watch those two try to function around one another, and if it had become a bit of a sport in recent years, unbeknownst to either of them, all the better. Luckily for the blue-haired witch the ramble was just long enough to turn her mental key a few times, until blessedly her mental engine roared to life.

“No! No. It’s fine, Luz, really. Just caught off guard a bit. Um.” She gathered her thoughts, sparing a moment to send Willow a seething side-eye. “I’m going to continue studying, actually. Theoretical magics. No one even knows how much knowledge and history we lost in the Burnings when Belos took over, so I’m going to be splitting my time between a research program at Bonesboro Library and Hexside. Teaching, and uh… Researching… things…”

If she trailed off there at the end, it might have been because she didn’t have much else to say. Or maybe that was a lie, and it was the fact that Luz’s eyes had grown to the size of saucers and had brought up both hands to cover the widest, most joy-filled smile Amity had ever seen on the other girl. Could be either, really. Hard to say.

Not that she had much time to consider, because before she knew it she was being lifted and spun in joyous circles for the second time that day. “Luz!”

“You’re going to be a _teacher_? And research _magic_? Ams that is so cool, you get to read and study all day and you’re gonna be the best teacher for those kids. Holy shit, this is perfect for you!”

Camilia’s call to watch her language went unheeded, lost in the background.

Luz released her back to the whims of gravity, but just as quickly took her by the shoulders. Amity tried to ground herself somewhere, but couldn’t think of anything to grab onto other than Luz’s waist and that was _not_ an option, so she flailed there in Luz’s grip instead.

“Why didn’t you _say_ anything?”

Her head was spinning, so it was really all Amity could do to gasp out, “It wasn’t really a settled thing until recently.”

Luz’s jaw worked wordlessly, overcome with excitement for her best friend. This had to be Amity’s dream set up, learning and studying and filling that big beautiful brain of hers. Willow jumped in before she could voice that out loud and make a fool of herself, though.

“So, like I said, maybe Amity could help. She’s going to be studying archaic and theoretical magics, and you want to learn them. It’s perfect!”

Amity’s face looked not unlike it would have if she’d been dunked in a vat of apple blood. If their friend had hit dangerously close to the very reason Amity had become interested in that particular field of study, that knowledge could stay between her and her diary.

“Y-Yeah. I mean, I don’t really know exactly what all the work will be yet, but if I find something useful-” And just like that Amity was being spun around yet again. She would have liked to have words with whatever deity ordained for her to grow so short, and for she-of-no-personal-boundaries to grow up into a centrifuge. Her stupid gay heart _really_ couldn’t take it.

Eda, blessed Eda, came to rescue her. “Alright, kiddo, let her go before she pukes. I think we’ve all had enough cleaning for one night.”

Amity was released in a flash, wobbling and breathless.

“Now it’s getting late and my nighttime juice is kicking in, but before all you head out,” Eda said, reaching for a pocket, “There’s one more thing.”

With a flourish, she produced a scroll. Luz for her part looked like she was about to combust, flipping from one emotional high to another. “Eda, you _didn’t._ ”

“Ah, you dare doubt my prowess? Of course, kid. You’re here full time, you need to communicate. You might not be able to summon it like the rest of the nerd squad, but you can still carry it around. Go on, add their rune codes before I have Hooty toss ‘em out on the lawn.”

The front door creaked open, a menacing sound in it’s own right, made worse by the bird tube poking his head around the edge of the frame.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Luz couldn’t seem to stop herself from jumping up and down, post-cleaning exhaustion forgotten entirely.

What with the threat of Hooty looming over them, or behind them perhaps, the group was quick to exchange runes. Amity promised to share her code with Em and Ed at Luz’s request, and Gus demanded they all gather round for a group selfie. He would have set her up a Penstagram too, but Eda drew the line and one look at Hooty slithering across the floor towards them was more than enough to have Luz walking them out.

She gave each witch a hug, feet remaining firmly on the ground. “Thank you guys for coming. I mean Willow kinda had to of course, but this was seriously fun.”

“One last shindig before responsibilities set in,” Willow nodded with a grim smile.

Gus covered his ears and groaned. “Don’t say the R word. The R word doesn’t exist until Monday. And who still says shindig?”

Willow shoved him with a laugh and they turned away towards the path. “We’ll see you around Luz. And you too, Amity. Good luck with everything!” She winked, and they left. Luz figured that was a weird wink, A. Because Willow didn’t really wink, and B. Because it sort of looked like she was winking at Amity, but maybe at her? C. That was confusing, and she was opting not to think about confusing things after such a wonderful night.

If Amity was a bit flushed, both of them were happy to blame that on night time lighting and not address it.

“I’m really glad you were able to make it, Ams. And now that I have a scroll, I can pester you way more efficiently!” She held her scroll up above her head, beaming at it.

“You’ve only had that for fifteen minutes and I’m already considering changing my runes.”

A very betrayed Luz busting out her signature puppy-dog eyes was more than enough to break Amity’s resolve, and both fell into easy laughter.

“Seriously though, even if you just ended up cleaning up after us I hope you had a good time.”

Luz would do anything to see Amity soften like she did just then. An easy smile, warm eyes, a little shrug. That sure was something. “The best.”

Not sure what else to do, Luz swept her into one last hug and stood in the doorway watching until Amity disappeared into the darkness. Nothing but wind in the trees and the chirping hiss of the acid-crickets to keep her company.

“I like her better now that she doesn’t try to gauge my eyes out.”

“Ack!”

Freakin’ Hooty…

* * *

Laying on her pallet that night, Luz couldn’t quite keep the smile off her face. She was here. Here for good. The portal was secure and she could see her mother whenever she wanted, but she was _here_ and was going to keep learning magic. Maybe even with Amity!

She had a hard time imagining what that would be like. Not only because she had a hard time picturing them in the library for anything other than Azura Book Club, or because she didn’t actually know what Amity’s job was… like, _specifically_. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that somehow her mind seemed pretty convinced it was just going to be the two of them curled up on the couch in the secret room.

Drinking tea and murmuring over notes. Making breakthroughs, and being there to celebrate Amity when she was awarded for her hard work, which would definitely be a thing. Maybe long nights struggling on the cusp of some big new idea, fighting sleep… Maybe one night Amity would fall asleep, and lean over onto Luz’s shoulder-

No!

Bad brain!

Luz had had so many conversations with her terrible, traitorous brain about this, for all the good it had done her. Being giddy over an amazing night was no time to start slacking in that department. It had been easy to push those thoughts down over the years, with Luz spending so much time in the human realm. Some weekends Amity was busy and they hadn’t been able to see one another at all. Easy to forget how confused and flustered her best friend made her, and not consider what that meant, and not spend time dwelling.

She wasn’t quite sure what that meant for her now.

Either way it was confusing and she was tired, so she rolled over to her scroll. To Gus she sent a human meme, and to Willow a gif of a sleepy plant, and to Amity she sent a gif of a sleepy otter. If her finger hovered over a heart emoji at first, that could stay between her and her scroll.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments help feed starving babies. (It's me, I'm the starving baby.)


	3. The Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins are just like that, and the war is over but still too close for comfort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Now with fanart! @mossfoxx is me on tumblr, I spent hours on this ;-;)

* * *

Amity’s childhood friends would probably think her crazy for the relief she felt waking up in a cozy townhouse in the middle of bustling Bonesboro. How could anyone be content trading a beautiful manor complex surrounded by pastoral tranquility for that? …For one thing, it lacked the layers upon layers of painful memories. It was homey in a way that was foreign to her, but nice. The ever-present hush of the manor, created by vast distances between rooms and their occupants had been oppressive. Now listening to her older siblings bumbling around in the kitchen just one floor below was slowly climbing her list of favorite sounds.

Smells of butter and grease and breakfast wafted up through the vents. Her stomach growled at her, but she was loathe to get out of bed. She was warm and cozy and the sunlight drifting through her window had turned dust motes into lazy flecks of gold. It was beautiful, but not necessarily the reason she didn’t want to get up.

Truth of the matter was that she knew the ‘I told you so’s were going to be _unbearable_.

Neither of her siblings had doubted for a second that Luz would choose to stay in the Boiling Isles. They’d said so proudly, until Amity threatened on pain of death not to get her hopes up, just in case. She had a creeping suspicion that four long years of barely restrained teasing was about to be unleashed. The idea of sneaking out through a window wasn’t entirely unappealing.

Amity ran through in her head what obligations the two might have today. If she waited long enough, maybe she could put off the inevitable just a bit longer... Sadly the finance clerks had processed the last of the inheritance papers yesterday, and as far as she knew they weren’t due to meet with the property clerks to figure out what would become of the manor until midweek. Aside from a stroke of dumb luck, it was likely she would just have to face the music. Amity _hated_ the music.

Her scroll dinged. She wormed one arm out from beneath her blankets and fished blindly across her night stand. Blinking until her eyes were able to focus, Amity read:

**Luz:** Good morning!

Her chest swooped in a most unpleasant way. Right. The scrolls. That had been a thing. Then, another ding.

**Luz:** This counts as efficiently pestering, right?

 **Amity:** So efficient.

Unpleasant swoopings aside, Amity threw her legs over the side of the bed and stood to dress for the day. She hoped to spend a few hours at the library, and it was her turn to pick up groceries from the market, but nothing too taxing. Thin black pants and a simple grey shirt would suffice. Looking over herself in the mirror, she contemplated spelling her hair a new shade but didn’t know what she might switch to so in the end figured blue was still good for now.

Murmured conversations floated up to her as she descended the stairs but cut off sharply as her foot landed on the one that squeaked. Not a great sign, all things considered.

Edric’s head popped out from the archway that led into the kitchen. “Mittens! Just in time. Em made a scramble.”

Amity diverted around the kitchen and seated her self on a stool.

It was a smaller cooking space than any of them were accustomed to but they had all adjusted quickly. An ice box and a range, cubbies and cabinets of all sorts were all contained by walls except for a small bar-counter that looked out into the living room. Sure, they had purchased a larger table as well, but all three preferred taking meals atop the bar stools instead. It was nice in an informal sort of way, and nothing that would have been approved of by their parents.

Emira was quick to set a plate down in front of her. It was anyone’s guess what creature the eggs had come from, and near as Amity could tell there were various veggies and spices mixed in. It was better not to ask many questions when the twins were cooking, and either way it smelled amazing. She checked her scroll and found it without notification, then set it down in favor of food.

“So!” _Oh, Titan,_ _here we go_ _._ “You were back later than we expected. Good party?”

Amity shrugged, trying her best to fill her mouth with more food than she could politely speak through. Buy herself some time, maybe.

“Yeah. Gus and Willow and I stayed to help them pick up after.”

Edric propped his elbows up on the other side of the bar, staring at her with a look of mounting chaos only older brothers can hope to achieve. “Well that was kind of you. Funny, cleaning doesn’t usually put me in a good mood. Em, did Mittens seem like she was in an unusually good mood when she came home?”

“You know Ed, now that you mention it…” Emira had returned to the stove top, scooping out a plate of her own.

“You’d think on top of cleaning _and_ her girlfriend’s inevitable return to her native realm a witch might get a lil' bummed out.”

Amity's mumbled, "Not my girlfriend," went unheeded.

“Mittens must be made of sterner stuff than us, I suppose.”

Amity’s head fell into her hands. She was going to light both of them on fire. “It must be so nice to be an only child.”

She yelped as her stool was dragged sideways, and by the time she had regained her balance found herself blocked on both sides by the twins, claiming stools of their own. It had been three minutes and this was already so much worse than she had imagined.

Then, her scroll dinged.

A split second of calm before the storm...

...Three hands darted forward.

Amity chalked it up to instinct. It could have easily been Boscha or Skara or Principal Bump with news on her job placement, or literally anyone else reaching out. All she knew is that she didn’t want Ed or Em laying hands on her scroll. Unfortunately they seemed to know this as well.

Amity’s nails dug into Edric’s arm and expletives followed. The scroll was jostled up into the air and was nearly caught by Emira, until Amity’s elbow struck out against her ribs. The three siblings leaned forward, stools tottering beneath them, scrambling as the scroll fell further in towards the kitchen. Amity wrapped her brother in a headlock, free arm outstretched, battling Emira’s for supremacy.

“Em, no!”

“Em _yes_!”

Amity kicked out at the leg of her sister’s bar stool and sent her clattering to the ground. Edric was tapping out against the choke hold around his neck, but Amity waited until she had scooped her scroll back into her possession before releasing him, skittering further into the relative safety of the living room. Emira groaned from where she fell.

**Luz:** -photo of King curled up at the end of her mattress-

 **Luz:** King of Cuteness!!

Worth it.

“Is it too late to say ‘Uncle?’” Emira wheezed and clutched her ribs.

“Nineteen years too late,” Amity mumbled back, tapping out a response.

**Amity:** I changed my mind about giving the twins your runes.

 **Luz:** WHAT? NO! I need to pester ALL of you!!!!

 **Amity:** No. They need to ear

“Luz has a scroll now?” Edric shouted over her shoulder, sending her scroll fumbling once again only this time Amity wasn’t quick enough to catch it. Edric palmed her head aside and squished her down against the back of the couch, stretching for it, apparently unperturbed by the string of swearing that action produced.

**Luz:** They need to ear? like, listen?

 **Luz:** no entiendo…

 **Amity:** Luz! This is Edric! You have a scroll now?!

Amity groaned struggling to stand beneath her brother’s weight, or at the very least wriggle to freedom.

**Luz:** Ed? I do! You should probably give Ams her scroll back.

Edric’s eyebrows drifted skyward. “ _Ams_?”

Amity groaned again. Louder this time. Emira dragged herself upright and draped herself over her brother’s shoulder.

“Oh. That? That’s precious.”

Amity pinched the bridge of her nose with the one free hand not currently pinned against the cushions. “If my scroll is not back in my hand in five seconds both of you are getting an express trip to the knee, courtesy of my abomination.”

Amity didn’t miss the way Ed frantically scrolled up and down, apparently making the most of his time limit. It was a threat she’d acted on often enough that, “Three, two-” saw her scroll back safely in her possession. Amity snatched up her plate and stormed into the sitting room, choosing to sit instead in an arm chair that would allow her a good view of her jackass siblings at all times.

**Amity:** Sorry about that Luz. Twins being twins. I was trying to say they have to earn it.

 **Luz:** Hi again!

 **Luz:** wait

 **Luz:** how do I know this is actually Amity and not some trick >.>

Amity’s cheeks dusted pink.

**Amity:** Ha. I appreciate the concern, good looking out. Uhm.

 **Amity:** In your second year here you accidentally ate a pastry that had a cream center and the dairy fucked you up. You swore me to secrecy.

 **Luz:** DELETE THAT MESSAGE IMMEDIATELY!

 **Luz:** but also I definitely believe it’s you now.

From the other side of the bar, Edric and Emira alternated cleaning up and watching their younger sister typing rapid responses to whatever Luz was sending her. The scramble Emira had practically slaved over forgotten on the side table. She sniffed. The disrespect of it all! Then again, the way Mittens was smiling down into her hands was possibly enough to bring Em to forgiveness.

Edric hovered over her shoulder and in a voice too low for Mittens to hear murmured, “50 snails if they cave within two weeks. 20 more if Amity confesses first.”

Emira sucked on the inside of her cheek. “Done. 50 says it’ll take longer. They’re both hopeless though. 20 snails for them to just lose it and mash their faces together.”

Ed snickered. “Done. We getting Boscha in on this?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

By the time Emira was towel-drying the last mug, she turned to find Amity pulling on a sweater hung by the door and hollering, “I’m heading out! Need anything else from the market?”

Ignoring her question, both twins instead chorused, “Tell Luz we say hi!”

Amity flipped them a one-finger salute and slipped out the door.

\- - - - - - - - - -

Bonesboro market had changed in the past several years. In some ways, it was just the natural way of a market space. Some shops closed and others had opened in their place. Some simply moved to better, or more affordable, locations. Shop fronts were repainted and signage changed. In other places it was a bit more… well.

A bit different.

There were still more empty lots than full in the section of the Night Market that had been burned. Most of the rubble had been cleared away, apart from the piles of salvage that had been left for those trying to rebuild. Deirdre Scar’s Dashing Scarves had only lost a bit of roof, being at the edge of the blaze, and even if the new look was patchy it hadn’t stopped the old demon from re-opening. Others had been far less fortunate.

Amity tried not to stare too long in any one place. She had seen it all before, of course. More times than she could count, but the memories still felt like open wounds she’d rather not prod at. Activity picked up as she crossed from Night Market to Day Market grounds. For one thing, these shops were actually operating, seeing as it was daytime. For another, the Emperor hadn’t sent quite as many goons this way. Economic interests and all that.

It was those thoughts that left her scowling, unknowingly, as she made her way to the bench where Luz was waiting.

“Hey there, grumpy gills.”

Amity looked up, surprised out of other more dour thoughts. “Hm? Oh, hey Luz. You got here quick.”

The human girl was dressed in dark blue pants, a fabric she called ‘de-nim genes’ though Amity still wasn’t sure how humans used genetics to create clothing, and a simple white t-shirt. She also happened to be squinting at her like Amity was a puzzle to be solved.

“Yeah, Eda lent me Owlbert since she’s holed up for the day. So do I need to alibi you for the twins murders, or…?”

Amity huffed out a laugh and shook her head. “Regretfully, they live to annoy another day. Don’t worry about it, just,” she waggled a hand half-heartedly in the direction of the Night Market. “Thinking.”

Luz’s squint softened into a small smile of understanding. “Yeah.”

The war had been... _horrible_ , but easy enough in the doing of it all. Wake up, try not to die, help where you can, hopefully get to go to sleep again. Repeat. Turns out there wasn’t much time for introspection or worrying about what came after when you weren’t guaranteed a tomorrow. Even if the Boiling Isles were at peace and the fighting months behind them, the ghosts trailing them seemed pretty insistent. The nightmares and the intrusive thoughts hadn’t come until later, which Luz thought was pretty unfair, that victory was so easily overbalanced by the what-ifs and the losses.

She shook her head quickly, forcing it away and replacing her own pensive frown with a practiced smile.

“Anyways. Willow said that Harkenhog, the ghoul that runs Gnome Tomes?” She paused, waiting for Amity to nod that she was familiar with the establishment. “He’s got some pre-burning books on sale now that the edict is waved, but they’re going quick. Wanna see if there’s anything left?”

Luz offered her arm and Amity linked hers through, relaxing into the touch. If today was just another distraction, she could make peace with that. “Sounds good.”

The sky was clear and the weather fair, and as the two walked arm-in-arm deeper into the Day Market, it was easy enough to drown out the sound of hammers and saws amid chatter and bustle. If Amity leaned a little bit too much into Luz, and if Luz squeezed her arm a little bit tighter, it was a small comfort that didn’t need its own remark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drop a kudos or leave a comment to enter into the raffle. The grand prize is me smiling from within the depths of a blanket burrito. Winners guaranteed.


	4. The Flashbacks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It turns out the best of times and the worst of times are not mutually exclusive.

Willow hadn’t been joking. The crowd surrounding Gnome Tomes’ entryway would have been more appropriate for a street performer or some sensational oddities carnival. Amity's memories of the shop were that of dusty old books with cracked spines, and even if she always loved to stop in and visit she couldn’t recall a single time she’d so much as waited in line to make a purchase.

She and Luz had fought their way through the masses, mostly unsuccessfully. It wasn’t until Luz started jumping up and down, just trying to get a glimpse of what was left and figure out if it was worth all the hassle, that she was recognized.

From behind the counter Harkenhog bellowed, “Why, is that Miss Luz I see? Folks, folks, please. Clear a path!” Remarkably, the other patrons obeyed.

Heat rose into Luz’s face and she began waving her hands at all of them. “Oh! No, no, we can wait our turn! I was just trying to-”

“Nonsense, my dear!” Harkenhog was oddly charismatic for a ghoul. He wasn’t the sort to let translucent grey skin and hollow, soulless eyes hold him back. He waved her forward. It had taken a gentle shove in her back from a stranger to get her moving, but not before she grabbed Amity’s hand, worried that she might get left behind.

Harkenhog went on, speaking loudly for his benefit as much as hers. “If not for you and your companions, I would never have had the chance to share these ancient, forgotten tomes with the world! Certainly not without being arrested by those brutes.” The crowd buzzed, reminded for a moment beyond the spectacle why they were all there. Amity had to hand it to him, the man knew how to drum up business.

Luz just wondered how the heck he’d managed to find these texts in the first place, but maybe that was a question for another time. She fidgeted, not at all sure what to do with so many eyes on her, surrounded by a whispering crowd.

Amity gave her hand a squeeze.

“R-right. Well! We came to see if you had anything about the first witches, I guess. Something to help me with my magic, or maybe help Amity with her research.” Luz tugged Amity to her side.

“Hmm, research eh? And what are _you_ studying, my dear?”

Amity was realistically as uncomfortable as Luz but years of strict training, courtesy of her surname, meant that she was able to mask it well enough. “Theoretical magics, sir. I’ve joined a research team and will be teaching these findings at Hexside as well.”

She ignored the way the crowd seemed to shift. It wasn’t a surprise that some might have suspicions about a Blight trying to pry deeper into the secrets of magic, but it still smarted. She kept her face carefully neutral.

Whatever Harkenhog felt, he kept that masked as well. “What prestigious endeavors! It would be my honor to assist you ladies.” He turned from the counter and disappeared into a back room, accompanied by sounds of rummaging and shifting crates.

The hush he had inspired in the crowd seemed to leave with him. Conversations broke back out in full, and the sudden rush of noise strained at Amity’s careful control. Luz squeezed her hand.

“-true that they fought a-”

“-saw them in the Night Market when Captain Craw torched the-”

“-not sure I believe that a _Blight_ would ever-”

Amity squeezed her eyes shut.

A little boy broke from his mother’s grip and ran up to Luz, tugging on the hem of her shirt.

“Hey there, bud!” Luz greeted him cheerfully, even if her grip on Amity’s hand was as tight as ever.

He couldn’t have been more than six years old, cornsilk white hair and bright green eyes and the picture of youth. He spoke with the excited lack of decorum only a child could manage. “I heard from my buddy Lucc that the bad guys almost got you out in the forest. How’d you get away?” She felt herself pale. Luz wondered for a second what he really knew about the fight, and what he had seen.

The voices nearest to them fell silent, and his mother rushed up and grabbed him roughly by the arm. “Miss Luz, I am so sorry, I-”

Luz cleared her throat and rubbed her forehead, subconsciously brushing the scar hidden in her hairline. “No, no, it’s okay. Uhm.”

She crouched down to the boy’s level, still held half suspended in his mother’s grip. He looked confused and frightened, not understanding what was going on or the mistake he had made. Luz could relate.

She addressed him with a soft smile, “That’s a pretty scary story, bud. Me and my friends were walking with a few families that lost their homes, trying to get them to a safe place. We didn’t know that the Emperor’s Coven knew we were coming, but they were waiting for us. I got hit in the head really hard during the fight and passed out.”

The boy’s eyes were wide with wonder, and she felt more than saw others around them leaning in. First hand stories from the front lines were hard to come by.

“But luckily I wasn’t alone. My friend Amity here,” Luz tugged her down beside her and nudged her shoulder. “She was there with me. She used abomination magic to fight off the bad guys that tried to carry me away, while our other friends got the families to safety. By the end her magic was spent, but she still carried me all the way back to camp until a healer could help me.”

Amity’s face for once wasn’t bright red at the thought of Luz speaking highly of her. It was ghostly pale. In her mind there was still blood on her hands, and she cast a furtive look at her palms to remind herself that it was gone now. Nothing more than a bad memory.

“Wow,” the boy whispered. “So is that why people say you’re a hero?”

Luz gave him a sad smile. “I’m not a hero, bud. I was just trying to help. If anyone was the hero that day it was Amity.” She bumped her shoulder again. In a quieter voice she added, more for Amity’s sake than for the listening crowd, “I don’t know what would have happened to me if she hadn’t been there.”

Amity nearly toppled over when the boy rushed forward to wrap his arms around her neck in a tight hug. “Thank you for saving Luz, Miss Amity.”

Normally Amity considered herself good with kids. Rattled as she was, it was all she could do to give him a pat on the back before his mother tugged him away. Of course she had saved Luz, what other option did she have? The alternatives should have been unthinkable, even if they still found a way to make her jerk awake in the night.

They stood again, still close and still tightly clasping one another’s hand. Harkenhog chose that moment to return, and Luz found herself wondering if that was by luck or by design.

“I found what I could, ladies, but I fear it may not be up to your standards. If you come back in a week or so I might have something else to show you.”

He spread four books out on the counter, and Luz didn’t even bother to read their titles. She just wanted out of that shop, out of the crowd and away from the whispers. She fished in her pockets for her purse but was interrupted by a male witch, tall and broad and to Luz’s shock, crying. He wordlessly laid the snails on the counter and turned away, leaving through the still-parted gap in the crowd. It wouldn’t be until later that evening that Luz remembered his face from the infirmary bed beside hers, that terrible night in the forest.

\- - - - - - - - - - - -

Neither was up for much talking as they made their way to the library, both a little lost in darker memories that had made their way past carefully constructed mental defenses. It wasn’t until the door to their secret room clicked shut behind them, cocooning them both in still air and silence, that the dam broke.

Luz sat down on the sofa and let her head fall into her hands. She heard Amity’s soft footsteps following, felt the couch dip as she sat beside her, and leaned in when arms wrapped around her shoulder and stomach. She was furious at the tears leaking into her palms, so _angry_ that she hadn’t cried enough already. It wasn’t until Amity tucked her forehead into the space between her neck and shoulder that Luz realized she was crying as well.

Luz let out a small, hiccuping laugh. “That was horrible.”

She felt Amity smile. “It really was.”

“Can we just… sit here for a while?”

Amity’s only response was to squeeze her tighter, so Luz leaned them back into the couch and wrapped Amity in a hug of her own. She wasn’t sure how long they sat there, even after the tears had stopped, but neither had found a better cure for the darkness than closeness and warmth. They had survived, and it was over, even if in some ways it wasn’t.

A thought popped into Luz’s mind, and a smile followed. She broke the silence with a quiet, “Hey,” so she didn’t startle the other witch.

“Hm?”

“Remember that time you tried to have me dissected?”

Amity groaned into her neck. “Are you _ever_ going to let me live that down?”

“No, but that’s not the point. Would you have ever thought in a million years we’d end up here?”

She felt Amity smile, then felt her wipe her eyes on the collar of Luz’s shirt, but she didn’t mind if that meant she didn’t want to use her hands. Luz liked where Amity’s hands were just fine, thanks all the same.

Amity thought back over the last four years, and the brightness that had preceded these last six months. Once upon a time this room had been hers and hers alone. A lone witch in a secret room, the only place she was free from the pressures of school and her parents, from teasing siblings she was pretty sure actually just hated her, from fake friends and expectations.

“No. Not in a million years.”

Luz smiled. “Me either.”

They spent a few more quiet moments enjoying each other’s comfort and warmth, until Amity nudged at Luz’s neck with her forehead. “You want to look at those books? I still need to do some shopping for Ed and Em before I head back.”

“Yeah, of course.” Luz began to stir, but before letting go gave Amity one last squeeze. “And uh, thanks. It’s hard sometimes, keeping it all in.”

Amity clung back, squeezing hard enough to make Luz laugh, which had been her goal. “Anytime, Luz. I know what you mean.”

Skimming through the tomes, Luz soon realized they probably wouldn’t be much help. The histories were interesting and chock full of conflicts compared to Belos’ narrative, but at least on a surface level it was more factual than practical application. She’d commit some time in the coming days to read them more in depth, but couldn’t help hoping Harkenhog might discover something better. Amity seemed to be facing similar issues, even if she was more captivated by the historical information than Luz.

Luz listened to her gush about cultural differences between the past and now, how old rituals that had been taught to her as barbaric disrespect to the Titan were actually meant to honor him, some going back hundreds if not thousands of years ago. Luz even smiled at her anger, at the idea that Amity’s own culture had been taken from her, wiped away in the course of just a few generations, because behind the anger she saw the same passion for change that had walked with them during the war.

Both scratched out brief notes in shorthand in their respective journals, reminders of sections to return to, questions they had, new directions they might pursue. Luz found nothing about glyphs per se, but there were some interesting passages about drawing magic more directly from the island. It was worth investigating.

An hour or so later Amity snapped her book shut and ran a hand through her hair, flipping it from one side to the other. Luz found herself thinking again how well blue suited her, not that she was paying exceptionally close attention or anything.

“Alright, I’m calling it. It’s my turn to cook tonight and if I don’t get dinner on the table by five Ed throws a tantrum.”

Luz laughed at the thought of that. Ed’s tantrums were famous. “Yikes. Best avoided at all costs.”

Amity smiled up at her. “See, you get it.” She began shoving books into her satchel, some she’d kept stored in the room that she meant to go over later that evening, as well as one of the histories. The other three she handed to Luz. “Will I see you tomorrow?”

Luz was warmed by the question but grumpy about the answer, even if she probably shouldn’t be. “I’m not sure. Eda said we might go out to the Ribs, look for some flowers she needs and maybe a new wind glyph if we’re lucky.”

Amity scrunched up her nose. “I guess I can’t complain after three years of only weekends.”

Luz laughed, packing up her own things. “But complaining is so much _fun_ though!” Hoisting her bag onto her shoulder, she added, “Plus, I’ll have my scroll with me now.”

“True.”

“Any chance the twins are getting my rune code any time soon?”

“None at all.”

\- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Standing over the sizzling pan before her, Amity chewed her lip. The twins were bickering quietly in the living room, as they often did. She almost wished they could be a little more obnoxious, just this once. Try as she might, in the quiet and calm of the townhouse Amity couldn’t keep her mind from drifting back to the day. She hadn’t expected the crowded book store to affect her like it did, but maybe she should have. Even before the mess of the war, she’d never been big on crowds or strangers or even just plain old loud noises.

Now any press of bodies she didn’t know made her hair stand on end. It was like whatever fragile trust she once had with the unfamiliar was broken. And those whispers… She squeezed her eyes shut, breathed out heavily through her nose. That little boy had done more damage than he could have realized, and she didn’t blame him for it, but she wondered if maybe it would be a good idea to take a sleeping potion before bed tonight. She didn’t like to rely on them and used them as sparingly as she could, but at some point she’d grown tired of the nightmares.

That night in the forest wasn’t her worst memory of the war, but it was certainly one of them. Luz, pale and limp in her arms, blood streaming down the side of her face and matting her hair. Amity’s hands had been covered in it, pressing and trying to stop the flow. Her body aching with fatigue, it was all she could do to keep putting one foot in front of the other, struggling against exhaustion and Luz’s dead weight. The feeling that she was being watched, like a coven member was waiting to step out from behind every tree. The sweat. The tears. The smell of iron and panic. Her panic.

Panic.

Fear.

Iron.

“You good, Mittens?”

A hand tapped her shoulder and she screamed, spinning and calling a spell circle before she realized that she was in her kitchen, not the forest. It was her sibling’s pale and worried faces in front of her, not golden masks. Dinner was burning. The spell circle fizzled out and she crumpled, heart beating wildly.

She knew she was at home, but she heard wind in the trees.

She knew she was safe, but her heart pounded in her chest.

She knew Luz was fine, but she still smelled iron and her clenching fists felt sticky.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Emira’s soft voice sounded a thousand miles away. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”

Amity was stiff and unresponsive, but she didn’t resist being pulled into Emira’s arms.

“Can you say that for me? That you’re okay?”

Amity tried to even out her shallow breathing, and didn’t notice Ed quietly lift her scroll from the counter, or see him slip away into the living room.

**Amity:** Luz? It’s Ed. Did something happen today?

The scroll dinged back almost instantly.

**Luz:** What’s wrong? Is Amity okay?

 **Amity:** she was just cooking dinner. we smelled it starting to burn so we went to check on her. shes not talking. i think its flashbacks.

 **Luz:** omw

Emira had gotten a nod yes, it had been a bad day. A shaken head no, she didn’t feel okay. No response when Emira asked if she needed something, but got an answer anyways when the front door opened without a knock. Emira saw Ed look up, nod and wave someone forward. She stepped aside as Luz entered the kitchen and let the human take her place, smiling sadly as Amity melted against her and began to sob.

“Sssh, cariño, _ssh_. I’m here. We’re safe, I’m here.”

The twins stepped back, not feeling right to leave but wondering if maybe they were intruding on something by staying. They had done what they could to help in the battles. Mostly masking refugee camps and creating diversions to confuse and mix up the Emperor’s troops. Offensive magic had never come easily to them. They hadn’t been on the front lines often, and even now all these months later hadn’t found the courage to ask about, or even really think about, what the younger witches had seen and been through.

Amity sobbed out a soft, “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Luz had her suspicions, but she also knew it helped to get her talking.

So quiet, almost impossible to hear, Amity whimpered, “I was doing so good.”

“And you still are. Right now you’re doing good. It doesn’t make us weak to have bad days, and today was hard. Be proud of the peaks, and I’ll always be here for the valleys too.”

Amity threw her arms around Luz’s neck and began to cry in earnest.

Ed and Em stepped aside as Luz picked her up and began to make her way towards the stairs. She stopped only to whisper, “Could you bring a plate up in an hour or so?” If she noticed tears in Emira’s eyes too, she didn’t comment on it. Em nodded and ducked back into the kitchen.

Ed watched them go with a sad smile of his own. “Thanks, Luz,” he whispered as she walked by.

Luz brought the arm not currently supporting Amity’s weight up to gently scratch at the nape of her neck, threading fingers through blue hair. She smiled back. “Anytime.” The pair disappeared up into the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A wild Hurt/Comfort tag has appeared in the tall grass... Kudos and comments help ensure we see a chapter where these two just genuinely have a good time for once.


	5. The Meddling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where everyone knows, but are still very supportive. Impatient, but supportive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyy, another chapter! Just a quick note for any returning readers, I added some art to Chapter 3! The breakfast fight was too perfect in my mind. Is this something you guys would want to see more of?

The fog of sleep clung to Amity like a bramble, small thorns digging themselves into any available purchase they could find. None bit at her, at least as long as she was slow and careful. She liked sleeping. Sleep was nice, even if she was certain that it was time to wake up. Waking up seemed unpleasant. On the cusp of consciousness Amity couldn’t quite remember why that was, only understanding that she liked sleep and didn’t want to wake up but was fairly certain that she should.

She felt a weight shifting next to her and through her confusion the thorns bit in.

Night seemed to be gone but it wasn’t quite dawn either. Her room was washed in a milky gray sort of light, the kind where she could make out her desk and nightstand and the light beyond the window was more blue than black, but not yet orange or pink. A shadow sat at the edge of her bed, bent over and fiddling with something she couldn’t see. Shoelaces, her mind supplied, still bent on being the least possible amount of help.

The shadow turned. “Hm? Oh. Sorry, I didn’t want to wake you. Go back to sleep.”

“Luz?” Her voice was a rasp.

Amity felt a hand brush against her hairline, fingers trailing against her scalp. “Yeah. Eda’s expecting me.”

Luz. Luz was meeting Eda this morning. Her brain chugged, slowed by a foggy swamp. They were going to the Ribs and she knew that. They were going to look for flowers and glyphs, and Amity knew that too. There was also something else, but every time Amity’s sleep-muddled brain tried to make sense of why Luz was in her bed, why her _leaving_ had jostled her body to wakefulness, the brambles dug in. Sleeping seemed much more pleasant.

As Amity drifted away she could have sworn she heard a huff of laughter, maybe even felt a gentle kiss on her brow. Her bed got colder, and even if her searching hands only found a still-warm pillow to curl into it was enough to ferry her back to sleep. The pillow smelled very nice. It was enough.

\- - - - - - - - - - -

Wind whistled in Luz’s ears, and at this altitude the late-summer air was cool enough to nip at her cheeks. Her head was turned sideways away from Eda’s back, taking in the view. Far below them prairies and fields and forests were blurring past. Tall spears of Titanic bone jutted up from distant hills and above her the sky was clear. She wasn’t really aware of the sigh that left her lungs empty and herself slumped a bit more bodily against her mentor, but her thoughts were certainly shaken when Eda spoke.

“You’re quiet this morning, Kiddo.”

“Huh?”

She both felt and saw the older witch shrug. “Normally you’d be chattering my ear off. You good?”

It was brusque, the way Eda always was, but Luz knew her well enough by now to pick up on what she left unsaid between the lines. Luz knew she’d been a bit off even without the whole ‘I need to take Owlbert, it’s an emergency, I’ll be back later,’ stunt she had pulled last night. Eda knew something was up but she wasn’t going to press, because Eda was Eda and that was something Luz loved about her. Having the space to breathe and think wasn’t something she thought about much before coming under her wing. Now she treasured it.

“I’m… not sure. Can we talk about it later though?”

“’Course, kid. Whenever you’re ready.”

And that was that. Luz squeezed her arms around Eda’s waist a little tighter. She was lucky to have her.

Eda tipped Owlbert down towards the world below and Luz felt a little bit lighter as they circled slowly to the ground. Touching down, she hopped off and stretched her arms upwards then her back and then her legs. Flying for so long always made her so _stiff_. They had been in the air for an hour or two. Luz slowly spun around trying to recall if she had ever seen this part of the Isles before. Nothing jumped out at her as familiar. They’d only come to the Ribs a handful of times and it was always for quick foraging trips so the prospect of getting to explore a bit was exciting, on top of everything else swirling around in her mind.

“Alright!” Eda turned to face her, stowing Owlbert in his dormant form and producing a notepad not unlike Luz’s. “Quiz time. What are we here for?”

Luz’s brain sputtered, surprised by the question and finding her mouth moving before she could really process. “Slitherwort and Blue-Moon Moss. Both help channel and amplify magic in potions.”

“Ding-ding-ding! Correct.” _Phew_. Eda passed over her journal. “I’ve sketched out what they look like, because I don’t think I’ve shown you these before. Pretty rare stuff. If we get extra we are _definitely_ selling it off.”

Eda reached up into her mane of silver hair and produced two pairs of garden scissors next, one of which Luz absently took while trying to commit Eda’s drawings to memory. She wasn’t half bad at this art business, even if Luz still privately considered herself the expert in that particular field. Slitherwort’s long curving stem would hopefully be easy enough to pick out from a crowd of other plants, and maybe its poof of small white flowers at the tip as well. Blue-Moon moss looked… Fuzzy? Sure, that tracked, it was moss, but if Eda’s drawing was accurate it would be a pale silvery color.

“Why’s it called Blue-Moon?” Luz wondered out loud, not necessarily expecting an answer but Eda had one anyways.

“It’s not like your human blue moons, but sometimes under full moon light it glows that color. Most people try to gather it then, but in my opinion that’s a complete waste of time. No one really knows what sets the glowing off.”

Luz shrugged and passed the notebook back.

They spent the better part of the morning and well into the afternoon looking. They weren’t entirely unsuccessful, with both Luz and Eda finding their fair share of each, but Luz could tell her mentor was a bit miffed at the haul. She explained that both plants were slow growing and didn’t tend to form large colonies, hence them being considered rare. At one point Luz dared to ask what they needed them for in the first place, but Eda brushed her off in a way that was so familiar by this point that Luz didn’t bother dwelling on it. After four years she was well acquainted with the concept of ‘Eda does what she wants.’

They sat down for a late lunch, Luz perched on a fallen log and Eda on a particularly fine boulder, or at least that was how she described it. The young witch checked her scroll for the fiftieth time and was disappointed to see that she still hadn’t gotten any messages from Amity.

She knew from experience that going full in on ‘Hey last night was awful, I know you hate people seeing you vulnerable but I just wanted to make sure you were functioning normally again!’ didn’t go over so well with Amity. In recent months both had been subjected to their fair share of… breakdowns, for lack of better term. Not enough for Luz to feel comfortable handling the situation, but enough to worry that Amity hadn’t reached out yet on her own.

No mention of the twins being insufferable, no blasé comment on other patrons at the market, no seeking out opinions on her outfit for the day. Not that Amity (or herself, for that matter) ever explicitly talked about The Incidents, but there was always something to let the other know that they were okay and back on their feet.

It was a new routine, but it _was_ a routine, so Luz felt justified in the way her stomach had decided to tangle itself into a knot.

“You’re doing the thing again.”

Luz jumped at Eda’s voice, scroll fumbling in her hands. “What? No I’m not. Wait, what thing?”

Eda snorted. “You’ve got your ‘Thinking about Baby Blight’ face on. The ‘Worried’ variety of it, to be specific.”

Luz felt heat rise in her cheeks. First of all, rude for Eda to call her out so accurately. What gave her the right? Second of all, she wasn’t sure she liked the idea of being so transparent. For a split second Luz’s gut told her to deny the whole thing but this was Eda, and if anyone was equipped to see through her bullshit it was her mentor. Might as well get it over with.

Luz crossed her arms and huffed, telling herself that she definitely wasn’t pouting even while pretty sure she absolutely was. “And what does my ‘Thinking about Baby Blight’ face look like, if you’re such an expert?”

Eda was unperturbed by both her pouting and her sass. “Well usually it’s heart eyes.”

Luz groaned and buried her face in her hands. Eda ruthlessly carried on.

“This is _sad_ heart eyes though. Like someone kicked your dog or something.”

“...Amity isn’t a dog,” was the best defense she could come up with. Pitiful, really.

“Yeah, yeah, I know your girlfriend isn’t a dog.”

“Not my girlfriend.”

“Point is, I said I’m not gonna press you about whatever happened last night but you’re obviously distracted. If it’s keeping you from focusing that’s bad for business.” Eda picked up her satchel of Blue-Moon moss and jounced it a time or two.

Luz dragged her hands down across her cheeks, grumbling. She slid forward until she was on the ground, resting her back up against the log and wrapping her arms around her knees. It wasn’t quite a self-hug but it was enough comfort to convince her mouth to start moving.

“It’s just…” Luz scratched the back of her neck. “Some bad memories got brought up in Gnome Tomes yesterday. We were both pretty rattled at the library, but I thought things were okay. Last night Amity had a panic attack, I think, and then I had to leave before she woke up. Haven’t heard from her, so I guess I’m just worried.”

Eda picked a bit of food out from between her teeth. “Hm. Well, that makes sense.”

Luz mustered a half-shrug, not really noticing how the grip on her own arms had tightened until her fingernails were digging in.

She didn’t have to look up to feel Eda’s mismatched gaze boring into her. “And you haven’t reached out because…?”

“Dunno. I don’t wanna push her.”

Eda harrumphed. “Look, if I know one thing about Baby Blight it’s that she’s got more pride than she knows what to do with. She also for some Titan-forsaken reason seems to think you hung the stars in the sky. She’s probably embarrassed, even if there’s no reason to be, so just send her a dumb picture or something.”

Luz’s face felt _extremely_ hot. She ought to be used to Eda’s teasing by now, but here she was.

“You two have gotten a lot closer in the past few months, but it’s not like she’s entirely comfortable outside of her shell yet either. Probably feels like she overstepped. So if you’re both doubting yourselves, _one_ of you has to make the first move.”

If it felt like there was a second meaning hidden in there somewhere, Luz chose to summarily ignore it. One thing at a time.

So instead she turned back to her scroll, spent a few moments frowning at the blank message box, then sighed and stood. Eda didn’t protest as she snatched the small sack holding the moss and carried it back to the log. She also didn’t comment as Luz took and then deleted, took and deleted, four separate photos of their finds for the day, even if she did think privately to herself, _Pfft. Teenagers…_

At last the message was sent and Luz slumped back against the log.

“There,” Eda chirped, more smug than Luz thought she had any right to be. “Was that so hard?”

“ _Yes_.” So what if she was being a bit petulant? Eda could fight her.

“C’mon kid, I’m a dating expert. I know what I’m talking about.”

“We are _not_ dating!”

Eda snorted. “Sure. Anyways, enough sitting around. Got a few hours left before we need to fly back.”

Luz muttered swears, directed at Eda and at herself and at these _damn_ plants, it didn’t really matter. She brushed dirt and debris from the seat of her shorts as she stood. Luz trailed after Eda a dozen paces behind as the older witch led them back into the fields bound for the woods beyond.

“You know, I bet if you just kissed her already she’d-”

“Shut _up_!”

\- - - - - - - - - - - -

There weren’t many places in Bonesboro known for their night life, but even if Amity had been given a list to choose from the odds of her ending up anywhere other than Sora’s Spirits seemed slim. She wasn’t exactly what you might call a _regular_ , but when Willow texted her asking for drinks only one place had popped into mind.

Besides being only a block away from the townhouse, a month prior after her parents were finally convicted she and her siblings had claimed a table and spent a wonderful evening getting blitzed, so maybe she felt hazily familiar enough to suggest it. The atmosphere was upbeat without getting rowdy and most mischief-makers were tossed out before they got into too much trouble. The venue seemed suitable. What Willow was after was another matter entirely.

Four years out from delving into the other witch’s mind to repair the damage she had caused, Amity was confident that she could call the two of them friends. They chatted amicably, shared similar interests, and as far as she knew held no malicious intent towards one another. That was ‘friends,’ right? And so what if this was one of the few times Willow and herself had interacted without Luz there as a buffer. Still friends. Still perfectly fine.

So there was really no reason to be this nervous. Right? She was probably still just rattled from last night, that’s all.

Amity kept her eyes glued to the door for what felt like an eternity before Willow finally arrived. She took one last steadying breath and stood, trying her best to smile easily as she flagged her down.

“Hey! Sorry I’m a few minutes behind, my dads are renovating and needed a hand.” The plant witch slid into the booth opposite her, tugging at the sleeves of her jacket.

“Oh, no problem. I remember all the work we had to do to fix up our new place.”

Willow grinned. “Would that be pre-existing issues or issues caused by Ed?”

Amity scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Honestly I still wonder about a few incidents.”

This felt nice, she realized. Easy enough, even if the evening was just getting started. Her fingers twitched a little, as if reflexively reaching out for the comfort of Luz’s buffer, but she forced it flat against her lap to quell that. She could do this.

Amity slid a drinks menu across the table, grappling for the next thing to say. “So your placement starts tomorrow, right?”

“It does,” Willow hummed as her eyes scanned down the list. “I know this is kind of new for us, but I’m so nervous and excited I really just had to get out.” She peeked up at Amity and flashed a small smile, something that read along the lines of ‘Thanks for doing this’ and ‘It’s weird for me too, but nice.’

“I get that. You’re going to blow them away, though.”

Willow shrugged, but still smiled. “We’ll see.”

As the waiter came by to take their order, Amity felt her scroll buzz.

It would probably be rude to ignore Willow in favor of checking it, but her strong suspicions of who it was did a number on her self control. Laying in bed that morning long after the sun had risen she must have typed and deleted a dozen messages. ‘Sorry for making you put up with all that,’ but she could hear Luz’s voice admonishing her for thinking she was a burden. ‘Thanks for last night,’ but no, that had _connotations_ that made her stomach flip. ‘Please come back and hold me a little bit longer,’ because that was what she really wanted to say but couldn’t. In the end she’d banished her scroll and tried to think about literally anything else.

The longer the day stretched on, the harder it got to think of anything appropriate to send.

She’d been picking at a late lunch, which was actually her breakfast, when her scroll dinged the first time. Her siblings were out for the day so she felt no shame in summoning it as quickly as possible.

**Luz:** -photo of two small bags of plants-

 **Luz:** We’re going foraging, Eda said. It’ll be fun, Eda said. Finding super rare ingredients is _easy_ , Eda said.

 **Luz:** Eda lies.

Amity remembered how her cheeks had ached from smiling. And maybe she had dazed off a little thinking about it, because it took a laugh from Willow to bring her back into the moment. “I heard your scroll. Go ahead, I don’t mind.”

Insightful as always. Too insightful more often than not, but Amity summoned her scroll anyways. “Thanks,” she blushed. “Just a sec.”

**Luz:** You’re hanging with Willow???

 **Luz:** That’s awesome! Tell her I say hi!

Amity snorted, then tapped back quickly:

**Amity:** You could just message her yourself.

 **Luz:** Yeah but you’re literally right there. That’s so much easier.

 **Amity:** You using me to do your dirty work, Noceda?

 **Luz:** Yes.

Amity rolled her eyes and banished her scroll away, very aware of the warmth in her cheeks. Looking back up at Willow, there was that damned twinkle in her eyes that never meant good things for Amity. What was worse, she just seemed to be waiting, hands folded beneath her chin. How anyone could sip a drink in a shit-eating way was beyond her.

Amity’s blush deepened. “Luz says hi,” she grumbled.

Willow look a long, slurping drink through her straw. Amity let her head fall into her hands.

“I hate you.”

To her relief, Willow actually laughed. “I didn’t say anything!”

“You _absolutely_ did.”

The exchange seemed to break whatever was left of the tension Amity arrived with, and she made a show of chewing on a fried doughball in the most sullen way possible. Willow continued to laugh, especially when her own scroll dinged and it only got louder when Amity groaned.

“Please tell me she didn’t.”

“Oh she _absolutely_ did.” Willow parroted Amity’s own words back at her, staring down at her screen. She snorted. “Apparently she needs to make sure her message was delivered properly.”

“Please tell her I followed her incredibly simple instructions to the letter.”

Whatever Willow ended up typing out was a much longer exchange than Amity would have expected. That probably wasn’t a good sign.

**Willow:** Relax Luz, your girlfriend is a very capable messenger sprite. Hello to you too.

 **Luz:** sdkjahffsdksjfs

 **Willow:** ???

 **Luz:** why does everyone keep SAYING that today

 **Willow:** Hold up, who’s everyone??

 **Luz:** NO ONE

 **Luz:** GOODBYE

...

**Willow:** Tell Em I want in. 2 weeks tops, mashing their faces together.

 **Boscha:** oh fuck yeah. np ill add you to the list

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit more fluffy and humorous after last chapter. This was a lot of fun to write! Like I mentioned in the note above, let me know if you guys want to see more fanart for this fic, and if so what scenes if any jumped out to you. 
> 
> Thank you for all the kudos and comments! ~~They fuel me...~~


	6. The First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Amity is a ball of anxiety and dinner plans are made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may or may not have self-projected my anxiety onto Amity here but I think it fits. No, I will not be taking criticism at this time. 
> 
> Thanks to everyone for all the lovely comments! Just shy of 200 kudos too, which blows my mind. Every single one of you gets a gold star.

Amity woke well before the sun rose, filled to bursting with nervous energy. Her mind was slow to come to terms with her body’s instinctive reaction... Was there a test today? Were Mother and Father returning from a business trip? Had she overslept, were the twins up to something, was that a battle siren she heard in the city or was that a dream? There were no gentle shadows at the edge of her bed to reassure her today.

Then it came to her in a rush… Her placement began today.

Amity sat bolt upright and threw her blankets to the floor, springing up out of bed. A quick glance at her scroll told her that it was not quite dawn, and she had a healthy three hours before she was due to arrive at the library. She supposed that for most the logical choice would be to lay back down and get another hour’s worth of rest, but that was hardly an option for her.

Her mind buzzed. _Shower, half an hour. Outfit selection, twenty minutes._ She had laid out several options last night but it was important for first impression’s sake that she choose the best. _Five minute buffer for outfit changes. Remove and fold outfit while preparing breakfast to prevent stains, five minutes._

Her mental list went on and on, accounting for all possibilities. As it grew and her available time shrunk her nerves became more and more frayed. It was only the first day, and apart from a good impression surely it wouldn’t be anything too strenuous, right? As she stripped off her night clothes and stepped into the wash basin Amity turned the temperature gauge a few degrees higher than she might have preferred normally. Perhaps the heat would scald away the ghost of her mother’s voice.

_Perfection doesn’t come easy. If you are anxious, it is merely your mind reminding you that you could do better._

_What will they think of any young lady who turns up unkempt? Darling, please, your hair is a mockery._

_Did you mistake this outfit for bed sheets? These wrinkles…_

Never mind that Amity had spelled her hair back to auburn before settling into bed the night before, and she had steamed all six of her outfit choices by hand after not being able to settle on which one she might choose. She made a mental note to scrutinize them the moment she was finished scrubbing every last trace of dirt and negligence and imperfection from her skin.

 _Will I have time to re-steam my final selection between repacking my bag?_ Her mind whirred through mental calculations. _Yes. Okay. Ten minutes._

She reassured herself for the third time that she had rinsed every last bit of soap from her hair and stepped back into the comparatively cool air of the wash room. A pair of simple cloth shorts and a loose fitting shirt were there folded on the counter waiting for her, just where she had placed them the evening before.

Not long after Amity was reheating last night’s leftovers on the stove, _one hour and thirty-five minutes until I need to leave. Fifteen minute travel time. Arrive early, punctual, at least ten minutes to spare,_ when her scroll dinged.

**Luz:** As much as I hope you’re still sleeping right now, I’m fully aware that you’re reading this with all too conscious eyes.

 **Luz:** Bonesboro’s never seen a brain like yours, whiz kid. Stop stressing.

 **Luz:** You were made for this.

Amity had never been more grateful that her siblings hated mornings more than they’d hated homework, because it meant that no one else was there to see her swipe at suddenly overflowing eyes.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - -

The library had always been a refuge for her. A safe space set apart from the rest of the world. Walking up its steps now, Amity was forced to wonder if the sanctuary of her secret room actually spread to the rest of the building. It certainly didn’t feel very safe just now. Still, Luz’s words echoed in her mind and she found herself repeating them like a mantra. She was made for this. She could do this. It would be fine.

Pausing just beyond the main doors she smoothed a hand down the front of pencil skirt. Charcoal in color, conservative, especially when paired with a simple white blouse. Then Amity reached up to tuck non-existent stray hairs back behind her ears. One more deep breath and she found her hands pushing the doors inwards, feet moving forward robotically, willing her mother’s voice to tone it down just this once.

Her eyes fell on a receptionist waiting at the front desk, and in an instant she wasn’t Amity so much as she was Blight.

The older witch behind the desk didn’t bother to look up from her paperwork. “Library doesn’t open for another seven minutes.”

“Pardon me, I’m beginning a new job placement today.”

Whether it was the nature of her business or the frosty tone she had delivered it in Amity wasn’t sure but either way the witch seemed to startle, eyes darting up to scan her over top to bottom.

Amity carried on, “My name is-”

“Amity Blight. Bump’s recommendation. Danson left me a note, one moment.” Amity’s jaw clicked shut and she watched as papers were shuffled and documents drawn from folders. She stepped forward as a small stack was held aloft. “You’re the first to arrive. Head to the back counter, there is a door labeled for staff. You’re familiar with it?”

Amity nodded that she was.

“Have a seat in the lobby there.”

Amity waited for a moment unsure if further instructions would follow, but when the woman turned back to her busywork and seemed for all intents and purposes to forget Amity existed she stepped away.

The library was always quiet, even coffin-like at times, but there was a feeling of profound emptiness there in the early hours that Amity tried to ground herself in. The loneliness might have been unsettling but instead she found it peaceful. No one else there to witness her nervously rearrange the locks of hair that still had not fallen from her hairband, no one to see her fidget and shift the papers in her hands. She took another breath.

She could do this. She was made for this.

Beyond the staff door was a world she had never seen before. A small, simple world lacking in anything beyond the most basic of office-space decoration, but it was something beyond normal means of permission and that made it special. There was a large room with three round tables, a small kitchenette, and two benches on either side of the door. To her left and right two hallways led towards more unexplored territory, but that was business for another time.

Her hands grasped at the ends of her skirt, papers clasped between them, while she deliberated. Was she meant to sit on the benches? They were nearest to her, so it would be an easy choice. Not that taking four extra steps to the tables was hard... But would that make her seem like an outsider? Even if she was near to puking with nerves she knew it was important to exude an air of confidence. But on the other hand, would sitting at the tables seem too familiar? She was new, obviously, and stepping on the toes of others by entering their personal space uninvited would be beyond rude.

...She was probably overthinking things.

_You were made for this._

Amity took another measured breath and settled herself at the far right table, giving herself a clear view of both the door and the hallways. An advantageous position, all things considered. She looked down at the papers she had been handed and began to leaf through them. At first glance it seemed like a basic employment contract, so she might as well use the extra time afforded to her to study it.

She didn’t get very far, unfortunately, because not even halfway through the second page muffled voices leaked in beneath the door. Before Amity could make out what was being said it burst open with enough volume to make her pulse spike, slamming against the stopper on the opposite wall.

“-best placement I could have hoped for really!”

“T-that’s, yeah, I mean-”

“I mean it’s not like we’ll be expected to- Oh, hey!”

Amity was well aware that she probably looked like a Darterbeast snared by a light spell, eyes wide and body frozen in place, but after the peace and relative solitude of that morning this duo wasn’t exactly what she had been expecting.

Two witches near her age loomed in the door way. Or perhaps better stated as one loomed while the other hung in her shadow. The male witch was one she was roughly familiar with. He’d been in her class, even if she couldn’t quite remember his name. G-something... Oracle track, maybe, with a shock of orange cowlicked hair and darting blue eyes. He was thin and freckled and clung to his stack of papers with a nervous energy that she could relate to.

The other was an older witch, though not so old as to have been out of school for more than a handful of years. Her lilac hair was pulled up in a severe ponytail and she wore her makeup in a similar way to how other witches in Boscha’s circle favored it, like the forty-five minutes it took to apply was supposed to seem effortless. The witch grinned, flashing her teeth.

“Well Giles, looks like we’re not the first here after all!”

Taken aback and still all-too-startled to think clearly, Amity let her years of social training take the wheel. She stood from her chair and stepped out around the table, extending a hand. “You must be the others selected for the team. I’m-”

“Amity Blight, I’m aware.”

Amity was getting pretty tired of people saying her name for her. Not a great start seeing as she’d only been there for ten minutes. Still, the older witch took her hand and shook it firmly. Her hands were soft and uncalloused, which was a stark contrast to the way her eyes seemed to rake up and down like probing knives. Amity pulled her hand back on reflex.

Except that was rude, wasn’t it? She carefully schooled her face into a mask and reached out for Giles next. His grip was loose, a bit sweaty, and Amity did her best to be subtle about wiping her palm against the fabric of her skirt afterwards.

“Nice to meet you both. I see you know my name, but I’m afraid I’m not yet acquainted with yours?” Cold, callous, self-righteous in the way that she had been taught for years and years divined results, even if the words settled in her stomach like a rotten fish.

Giles seemed appropriately flustered. The other girl just kept smiling. Amity watched the older witch circle around the back side of the table where her own papers still sat, letting her parcel fall to the wooden surface with a slap. Giles trailed after.

“I’m Lora Hargreeves, this is Giles Monce.” She waved a hand in the boy’s general direction. “I was acquainted with your siblings at Hexside, pardon the impertinence of assuming your name.”

As if her surname wasn’t information enough, Lora too took on the air of someone educated by what would be considered high society in the Isles six months ago. Amity was intimately familiar with the family, and quietly berated herself for not recognizing her sooner. The Hargreeves had been partners with her parent’s business once upon a time until a falling out several years prior. She wracked her mind. Lora would have been one year ahead of the twins if she recalled correctly.

Even if that tidbit of knowledge wasn’t enough to raise her hackles, the undertone of her words carried with it a challenge to mince words, and that was just about the last thing Amity wanted to do. She switched gears.

 _Control the flow of the conversation and you control its participants,_ her mother whispered in her ear.

Amity’s golden gaze locked onto Giles who, best as she could tell, was trying his hardest to melt into the floor. “Giles, you were in… Oracle track, yes? I remember seeing you at Hexside.”

The male witch seemed to stutter and buffer, surprised that he was being addressed at all. “Oh! Uhm, yes. I’m surprised that you- Well, never mind that.”

“Both of us were, actually,” Lora broke back in. She leaned one hip against the table’s edge and folded her arms. “Divining information seemed like a good fit for this placement. I’ll confess I’m surprised to see an Abomination witch joining us, all things considered.”

“Amity comes personally recommended.” A new voice broke in from the nearest hallway, making all three of them startle. Six eyes swiveled to see a middle-aged male witch emerge, tall and lanky, dark hair fading to salt and pepper at his temples and sporting a proudly hooked nose.

Lora sprung away from the table, standing up straight and folding her hands daintily in front of herself.

The man carried on, walking to the front of the room and summing a stack of his own papers. “Glad to see you’re all punctual. Of course, being on time matters less than what you accomplish in the time you have, so hurry up and have a seat.”

Wordlessly the three complied.

“My name is Danson Silgur, and I am the lead archivist in charge of this project. You may refer to me as either Sir or Archivist Silgur. Please turn to page one of your packets.”

Papers shuffled.

Amity summoned a pen and put her head down. This she could do. She didn’t need to mince words or perform complex social interactions. Brusque instruction, a blatant goal, clear leadership was all she needed to be successful. She listened carefully as Silgur went over the terms of their employment and the expectations that would be set upon them, making notes for aspects that would reflect upon her personal strengths and weaknesses.

Self-led research and frequent one-on-one discussions of her findings suited her just fine. Access to private archives was intriguing, but she stymied that thought with a note to inquire further at a later date, lest her imagination get the best of her. The team would be expected to communicate openly about potential leads, which was not preferable, but do-able. She could do this.

She could do this.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Luz yawned, which earned her a quiet side-eye from Lilith. Could you really blame her though? She’d had an early start to the day, and they’d been shredding Blue-Moon moss for what felt like hours now. The Slitherwort was drying over the hearth, and as Lilith stepped away to rotate the bundled clusters Luz took to opportunity to pause and rub at her eyes. The afternoon was on the cusp of becoming evening, and she wondered if she might get away with turning in early after dinner.

Luz still wasn’t entirely sure what Eda planned to use this for, but after three failed attempts at gleaning any more information Luz had all but given up. Eda does what Eda wants, she told herself. At least her questions about what these plants did magically were answered at length, so it wasn’t like she wasn’t learning.

She was just so… _so_ tired.

Luz made a note to ask Eda to pick up more coffee grounds the next time she ventured into the human realm. Or maybe she could take some from her mother’s house when she visited this upcoming weekend. Whichever brought her that sweet, sweet blessed caffeine soonest.

“Too clumpy,” Lilith spoke over her shoulder, giving Luz a jolt. “The more surface area the oil can touch, the more potent the decoction.”

Luz pawed at her eyes yet again. “Right. Sorry.” She spent a few seconds breaking down her piles of moss into finer fibers, then slid her plate over for inspection. “How’s this?”

“Hm. Better,” was all she thought she would get in return. For all that Eda chattered on and on her sister seemed to be her opposite. Terse and exacting in a way that made Luz wonder if she’d actually gotten it right or was just being pandered to. Except Lilith wasn’t done. “You seem out of sorts, Luz. Should we call it a day?”

And that was the thing about Lilith. She might be cold, but Luz had come to know that didn’t mean she was uncaring. She smiled down at her sorry excuse for plant prep.

“No, I’m fine. I just didn’t get much sleep last night is all.”

Lilith hummed. That probably wasn’t a good sign, Luz thought to herself as the elder Clawthorne returned to the hearth to inspect the Slitherwort yet again. Luz had practically dismissed the thought too by the time Lilith was done removing the last of the herb bundles from the heat, setting them on wire mesh racks to cool. Not that she’d ever been so lucky.

“Up late last night, or up early I wonder?”

Luz’s cheeks pinked. What was it with these two? Odd mix of mentor-turned-mother-figure-turned-meddling-older-siblings, the both of them.

Lilith didn’t seem inclined to wait for an answer, either. “I’m certain your friends are doing quite well in their assigned placements, no need to fret.”

Luz cleared her throat. “Yeah, for sure. Willow says her boss seems demanding but kind, which is good for her. Gus’ is eccentric to the point of stressing him out but he’ll adjust.”

Willow had managed to send her a few messages over the course of the day, most of which were pictures of her new workspace. Planters and soil plots overflowed at the Botany Coven’s headquarters so Luz was fairly sure that Willow was having the time her life. Gus’ messages had mostly been of a stress-panic variety but the last she’d heard he seemed to be coping.

“No word from Amity?” Lilith’s tone was innocent enough. Maybe it was Eda’s utter lack of couth that made Luz suspicious, but she couldn’t help trying to read between the lines.

She shrugged. “Nah, but I’d be surprised if she did. I never even saw her messaging in class so it’s hard to imagine her risking that the first day on the job.”

Lilith chuckled. “Hm, that sounds about right.”

Luz watched from the corner of her eye as Lilith scraped her own pile of shredded moss into a clay jar, then moved aside as Lilith gathered her piles as well. The Slitherwort would be left to air out overnight then strung up from the rafters in the attic to hang for a few days, so it was pushed aside. Looked like they were done for the day after all.

“Why don’t you invite the three of them over for dinner?” Lilith asked, breaking the sudden silence. It was spontaneous in a way that seemed to surprise both of them. “Maybe they’ll want to talk about their first day.”

“Oh! Uh, sure. Should I check with Eda?”

Lilith sent her a wink. “Who’s the older sister here, hm?”

Luz grinned. Even if she got the sense that Lilith might just be hoping for a chance to get under Eda’s skin, she couldn’t deny that peppering her friends with questions was an appealing idea. She pulled out her scroll.

**Nerd Squad -**

**Luz:** Do you guys wanna come to the Owl House for dinner? We’re making braised Darterrrbeaassttt.

 **Luz:** -finger guns gif-

 **Luz:** It was actually Lilith’s idea too, much as I’d like to take credit. I don’t know what’s come over her and at this point I’m too afraid to ask.

She helped Lilith scrub down the cutting boards and tossed a few more logs onto the hearth while she waited for them to respond.

**Willow:** Any other night I would but my brain is mush and I’m too afraid I’d fall asleep on my plate.

 **Gus:** Ditto. I’m re-enrolling in baby classes first thing tomorrow.

 **Gus:** This ‘graduated’ stuff is really not my style.

 **Amity:** Let me ask the twins if they have dinner started already.

Luz was understandably bummed that Willow and Gus weren’t up for it, but it made sense all things considered. Why she was smiling down at her scroll waiting to hear back from Amity was another matter entirely.

**Luz:** Aww boo, you whores. (Human reference.) It’s okay though, get some rest!

 **Luz:** Ams if the twins want to tag along we’ve got room for them too?

 **Gus:** I’ve learned enough of your human lingo to reject that comparison.

 **Amity:** True, I don’t think any of us qualify there.

 **Willow:** Unless Luz has been holding out on us?

 **Luz:** ITS A MEME

 **Luz:** SHEESH

 **Amity:** The twins are down. See you in an hour?

 **Luz:** -Mean Girls gif-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I think I'm settled on a loose bi-weekly update schedule? It unnerves me to say that because now that I've put it out into the world I'm sure all sorts of complications will crop up. Oh well, we'll see what happens. This update is mostly a little test to see what sort of activity a fic posted at 12:30am EST gets. For _science._
> 
> Kudos and comments make an author's heart rate go brrr, pass it on.


	7. The Family Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a pleasant meal and definitely not a set up to make Amity's brain melt out of her ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little shorter this time around, but I really wanted to get this posted today. Besides, next chapter will hopefully be much longer... (By the end of this chapter you'll see why.)
> 
> I'm continuously blown away by all the kind words and support on this fic so far! After taking a long break from writing, I'd forgotten how much better it makes me feel to sit down and get lost in a different world. You absolutely stellar Grade A rockstars make it that much better (:

Hooty announced the Blight sibling’s arrival just as Luz was pulling down the last two glasses from the cupboard. The table was set and the whole house was filled with the smell of herbs and baked bread and roast. It felt like maybe it should be a holiday or something, with family coming over to visit, but it was just another evening. It wasn’t even the first time Amity and the twins had joined them for a meal, so Luz didn’t know why it felt a little bit different tonight.

Usually it had been in secret or whenever their parents were out of town, on those weekends that Luz and Amity were able to meet up before she returned to the human realm. After a day of hanging out or exploring or getting Luz out of whatever trouble she’d managed to stir up the twins would arrive to fetch their sister home, and usually get wrangled in for a meal if Eda was feeling generous.

It definitely helped that once Lilith moved in the meal quality at the Owl House shot up practically overnight.

So yeah, this wasn’t anything new. Her brain could politely chill out. Luz skipped into the living room to accept a quick hug from Emira and ruffled hair from Edric, necessary pleasantries, before looping her arm through Amity’s and linking them together. She missed Eda rolling her eyes behind her back, even if Amity did not. Her friend looked more than a little worn out, which had captured the entirety of Luz’s attention.

“Alright, spill! Tell me everything- Eep!”

Eda, still ridiculously strong for her age especially considering the fact that Luz was only an inch or two shorter than her now, picked her up by the back of her hoodie and spun her back towards the kitchen.

“Nuh uh, none of that. Baby Blight looks dead on her feet and if they’re gonna eat my leftovers, powwow doesn’t get to start until I’m stuffing my face.”

Luz groaned. “Fine. Well, hurry up then!” She grabbed Amity’s hand without a second thought and practically dragged the witch towards the table waiting in the other room.

The twins snickered in their wake.

Eda wasn’t wrong either. Throwing a quick smile over her shoulder as she towed Amity away, Luz could see that her eyes were red and tired, her hair mussed, and there wasn’t the usual laughter or resistance to Luz’s overt displays of affection. A feeling a guilt chewed ever so gently at her insides.

In the doorway of the empty kitchen, Luz slowed and gave Amity’s hand a squeeze. “You good? If you’d rather go home and rest, I get it.”

Amity seemed to blink out of a daze. She smiled, small and soft, but shook her head. “I’m okay. Today was rough but I think this is exactly what I need to make it better.” She squeezed her hand back and Luz beamed.

By the time the twins and Eda ambled their way into the room Amity was seated and Luz was setting down two pitchers onto the table, one of apple blood and the other filled with ice water. Lilith swept in from the hallway bathroom, apparently having felt the need to tidy herself up even though it was just the Blights. Old habits died hard. She pointed Luz around the kitchen to grab dishes and spare napkins and this or that, all while Eda watched.

“Enjoying watching your minions work, Edalyn?” Lilith’s tone was cold but teasing, the kind where she was hoping to get a rise out of her sibling. Eda wasn’t falling for it this time.

“Immensely. Excuse me, butler?” She snapped her fingers at Luz who grinned, happy to play along with a deep bow beside her chair.

“Yes, madam?”

“Fetch the indentured servant from his sleeping quarters, he bickers when not properly fed.”

“At once, madam.” Luz saluted and jogged back into the living room, scooping a sleepy King up from his favorite place on the couch. His grumpy “Weh!” was quickly silenced by the promise of food. By the time she returned and deposited him atop the table, Lilith was slicing pieces of roast and passing them around, politely questioning the twins about their recent endeavors.

In the middle of filling her glass, Emira responded to a question Luz hadn’t heard. “We figured we already have the warehouse space, so why not expand?”

“Magical relics and collectibles are fine,” Ed carried on. “But our parents built their business on prestige, not because it was the most lucrative market. So we’re sourcing new suppliers and hope to re-open in the next few weeks.”

“Well, it certainly sounds like you’ve put some thought into it,” Lilith hummed.

“Mittens did most of the mental heavy lifting,” Em laughed, elbowing Amity. “Not that that surprises anyone.”

Luz settled into the chair on Amity’s other side, which had been left deliberately free. She knew the twins were taking over the family business but she didn’t know much about Amity's involvement. She had assumed, wrongfully apparently, that with her job placement coming up that would be more of the twin’s problem.

Amity elbowed her sister back and shoved her shoulder, which really only served to make the older witch laugh. “Someone had to rein you two in. Ed wanted to start breeding griffins as a side project at first.”

“C’mon, how cool would that be! It’s still part of my five year plan.” He flashed Em a sly smile. “Besides, we already know one beastkeeping graduate with experience who could advise us.”

Emira blushed, ignoring him entirely in favor of cutting her roast into bite sized chunks.

Eda snorted and waggled her fork at the pair. “Well once you start stocking potions ingredients, I’ll be expecting a friends and family discount.”

Around a mouth full of darterbeast and roasted roots Ed replied, “Obviously. ‘Course, the family discount is cheaper.”

Amity willed her face not to color. Her years of experience with his teasing meant she knew exactly where he was about to take this. Unfortunately for him, Eda was more of a ‘free-range teasing' sort.

“Oh, is that an offer? I’ve always wanted to marry into big money.”

Ed promptly began to hack and choke.

Luz did her best to wait until Amity had cleared at least half her plate before launching in to her inquisition. She knew that Amity probably just needed to rest and de-stress and all that, but she had like a _million_ questions and the quantity alone was making her leg bounce beneath the table. She hadn’t realized that the rattle against the table leg was radiating outward until Amity laid a hand on her knee and squeezed. That got her to stop _real_ quick.

“Luz, for the love of Titan, you’re going to rattle the teeth out of my skull.”

Em and Ed snorted in unison. Probably at the way Luz quite clearly short-circuited.

“Sorry! I’m trying to be good. I’ll stop.” Which was a Luz was of saying that she had gained enough personal awareness over the years to know that sometimes, no matter how fast her brain was running she probably shouldn't let her mouth run after it, but that was _hard_ , so… fidgets.

Amity huffed a small laugh into her apple blood, took a sip while she rolled her eyes, but set her glass down smiling. “Just ask your questions.”

“What was it like? Is your boss nice? Oh! What about the other people on your team, you said it was small right? Did they show you any super secret rooms or ancient books or- Wait! Do you get like a cool I.D. badge? What about-”

Amity reached over and covered her mouth. Luz licked her palm.

“Luz!” The hand was snatched away, hastily wiped against her skirt, and returned in short order to flick her in the side of the head. Not that it stopped Luz from laughing at any point.

“You were asking for it, I wasn’t done yet!”

“If you actually want _answers_ you were. Also that’s gross.”

Luz stuck her tongue out. Ed folded his hands beneath his chin and grinned at her from across the table. “C’mon Mittens, don’t be like that. What’s a little spit between friends?”

Amity brandished her knife at him. “You, shut up.” Turning the utensil at Luz, she went on. “You, pick one. _One_. Start there.”

Luz chewed on the inside of her cheek, clearly thinking hard. From the corner of her eye Amity saw Eda grinning like a feral cat, and wondered if this was just budget-brand dinner theater to her.

Luz snapped her fingers. “Okay, okay. I’ve got it. Do you think you’ll get along with your co-workers?” After all, she knew that Amity had a hard time getting close to people and preferred to work alone. That was probably the most important thing to know if Luz was going to gauge how much her friend would enjoy this new job.

So when Amity deflated she immediately started to worry.

“Hm. I’m not sure. It might be too soon to tell. The man running the project, Silgur, he seems straight-forward and smart so that should be easy enough. The others?” She trailed off. Giles seemed like a little bit of a doormat, even if she felt bad thinking that of him. Maybe it was just a bad first impression. Lora, though?

Realizing she had been quiet for a long moment, Amity forced herself to keep going. “I’m only working with two other witches. Giles Monce, who was in our grade. You might remember him from some Oracle classes. Bright red hair, nervous?”

Luz nodded. “Vaguely, yeah. He never said much. Seemed squirrely.”

Amity wasn’t sure what a squirrel was but she trusted Luz’s judgment and nodded. “The other is a girl named Lora Hargreeves, who-”

She jolted in surprise as the twins, in unison, tipped their heads back and groaned. Ed even went so far to murmur some less that polite phrases under his breath that left Eda doing her best to hold in laughter.

“Hargreeves? Purple hair, green eyes, bitchy attitude?” Em snarked from the seat beside Amity.

“Titan, she was the _worst_. She’s seriously on your team?” Ed folded his hands and leveled a stern stare at her from across the table. “Mittens, I know you were excited about this, but you need a new placement.” She couldn’t… really tell if he was kidding. Which was weird for Ed.

“What?” Luz asked, flipping her gaze quickly between all three siblings. “What’s so bad about her?”

Amity shrugged. “She definitely came off a bit strong, even though we didn’t talk much after Silgur started integrating us into the project. She did say she knew you two…”

Edric rubbed his temples. “I don’t know how best to put this except that when we were younger, she was our ‘Boscha.’” Amity opened her mouth to defend the three-eyed witch, who had put in major effort to correct her bad attitude in recent years, but he waved her off. “Yeah, I know Mittens, except Lora never saw the light. Even after Mom and Dad cut their trade deal, you’d think she would have wanted to make actual friends but no.”

Emira picked up his train of thought. “Even though we weren’t in the same track she made a point to find us and bug us. Half the time it was to try and torment us, as if it was _our_ fault her parent's business took a hit, and half the time she’d try to flirt her way into social events. You never knew what you were going to get.”

Luz frowned. “I don’t like the sound of that. She sounds super manipulative.”

Amity sighed. “Yeah, I kind of got that vibe too.”

“She’s bad news, baby sis,” Emira intoned in a grave voice, as if bestowing deep wisdom. “Steer clear of her if you can.”

Amity filed that away. “Good news is it’s mostly independent work. We report weekly on our findings in a group meeting and are supposed to share ideas if we find a lead another person could use. Other than that, it should be easy enough to keep out of her way.”

“You start at Hexside in a few weeks too, right?” Luz brightened again. The idea of Amity in front of a class of students, becoming one of the professors she’d always admired, filled her with a warmth she had a hard time putting into words. The reminder drew a smile out of Amity as well.

“Yeah, but only half days every other day. I won’t know if they’ll keep me on as a regular assistant until the semester is over.”

“Uh, duh they will! Abominations prof better watch his back.”

Amity shook her head, looking down into her lap in a vain attempt to hide a blush that her siblings definitely clocked. “We’ll see, I guess.”

Eda chose that minute to break in. “That reminds me! I was in the market today and that freaky book ghoul flagged me down. Said he’s got something for you if you can stop in before he opens tomorrow, he’ll make sure you’re the first one to see it.”

Amity’s head snapped up. So soon? He’d said it would be a week! “Really? That’s great! I can…” Her mind ran to catch up. “Well. I don’t know. I have to be at the library pretty early.” A quick glance out the window told her that it was definitely too late to catch Harkenhog before he closed up for the day.

“I could go see him tomorrow,” Luz offered, enthusiastic at the idea of new books, with a sprinkle of ‘Helping Amity’ on top to sweeten the deal. She turned to look at her mentor and donned her best puppydog eyes. “Eda, can I borrow-”

“Nope,” the older witch cut her off abruptly. “Starting to think you only keep me around for my staff, kiddo. Lily and I have things to do tomorrow, so I need him.”

Luz deflated, pouting. “Phooey. Oh well, it’s not like I haven’t made the walk before. I can still go!” She elbowed Amity and her pout grew back into a grin.

Amity sighed, shaking her head. “Luz, it’s nearly forty-five minutes from here. You’d have to leave before sunrise. It’s fine, maybe I can check in with Silgur and run over.” Even if the thought made her stomach twist a bit, anxiety bubbling up within it, she didn’t want Luz to have to go that far out of her way.

Emira, ever the dutiful older sister, was struck with a marvelous idea. All it would take was a little prodding at Amity’s weak points… A price she was willing to pay. “Amity, asking for special circumstances the second day on the job? I never knew you had it in you!”

Amity scrunched her shoulders up to her ears.

Whether it was twin telepathy or not, Ed was quick to pick up what she was putting down. “And they say Mittens is the smart one in this family. The solution is so obvious.”

She didn’t really care for his tone and squinted at him. He held his hands up, picture of innocence, which was maybe fair maybe since Emira wrapped things up.

“Luz can just stay at the townhouse tonight. We’re only a few blocks away from the Day Market after all. Easier for everyone.”

The flood of mental images that notion produced was enough to fry her mental processors. Luz? Sleeping over? Sure, she’d stayed over at the Owl House sometimes when her siblings could cover for her, but Luz in her space? In her room? No, on the couch obviously but… Luz. Staying over. At her house. New territory. Amity wasn’t sure how she felt about new territory. Ultimately the decision seemed to be out of her hands because Luz was _ecstatic_ about that idea.

“Oh my gosh, yes! Ams we can finish reading book eight, there’s only like three chapters left! And I don’t care what you say, we’re never too old for fan art. And then I can get your books and drop them off for you, easy-peasy!”

Amity felt safe assuming that her siblings drew life force from making her blush because as Luz took her shoulder and shook her from side to side, all she could really see was their smug faces blurring past.

“Yeah, sure,” Amity gasped out, more to make the shaking stop than anything. Luz let go with a cheer and resumed eating with gusto so she would have time to pack. This would be fine. It would be fine. No biggie.

The twins offered to help clear the table so Luz could get ready, and watched as she dragged a still nearly-catatonic Amity up the stairs behind her. Something about picking out the best pajamas, or whatever. Standard business. Eda propped herself up against the kitchen’s archway and shook her head.

“Man, that never gets old.”

Ed let out a happy sigh and mimed wiping a tear from his eye.

Lilith, to the shock and awe of all, popped her head out from the other side of the kitchen wall, one brow arched. “So what’s the current betting pool look like?”

Emira grinned like a cat in the cream and summoned her scroll. “This is the best day of my life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~And there was only one bed...~~ I mean what? Anyhoozers, I haven't even finished the next chapter yet but I have IDEAS so prepare yourselves for a longish update next time around. Hopefully this one wasn't too boring or anything, just needed to set up some groundwork for later.
> 
> I love each and every one of you. Please stay hydrated, don't forget to stretch, eat your vegetables. I bestow upon you the most gentle of forehead kisses.


	8. The Sleepover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just your average totally platonic sleepover between two gals bein' pals.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These two live in my head rent free, and are starting to come between me and my actual real-world obligations. I'm losing sleep over daydreaming about this. No regrets.

Luz had been to the townhouse a handful of times, all in different stages of development. She’d been in the Isles the weekend they had gone to see the empty shell for sale, but missed the day the siblings had closed on the property. She’d been there when it was stacked full of boxes, navigating around them and the team of movers hauling things over from the manor, trying to be helpful where she could. There’d been a brief visit for lunch when things were mostly settled apart from the occasional bare patch still waiting to be filled, and of course there was a few nights ago too, but the interior design hadn’t exactly been forefront in her mind.

Now, stepping over the threshold as Edric pressed on the lighting rune, she could really appreciate what the Blights had put together.

Where the manor had been vast and immaculately clean, contrasting sharply between marble and dark, elegantly carved pieces of furniture the townhouse was warm all over. It was cozy. Plush, mismatching furniture filled up the living room along with a fuzzy rug. Potted plants of Willow’s choosing sat on side stools and a coffee table, and art pieces Eda had found in the human realm hung on the walls. Luz’s favorite of course was the novelty over-sized wooden utensils hanging in the kitchen, because they reminded her of eating in country diners with her mom.

It felt small and bright and safe, and Luz smiled quietly to herself when all three of the Blight siblings visibly relaxed in a home that actually welcomed them in.

Edric made a bee-line for the kitchen. “I know we just ate, but I’m grabbing some ice cream. Anyone want a bowl?”

“How are you still hungry?” Emira clutched her own stomach and groaned at the thought of forcing anything else in there.

His voice echoed out from the open ice chest, “I’m a growing boy!”

His sisters both rolled their eyes but neither bothered to respond. Luz dropped her backpack down beside the sofa before flopping down herself, hands folded contentedly over her own very full stomach. Man, Lilith could cook. There were still a few things Eda always made better, mostly breakfast foods, but no one could deny that Lilith’s tendency towards perfectionism was a boon in the kitchen.

“Are you food coma-ing?” Luz cracked one eye open to see Amity side-eyeing her, wry grin on her face.

“Yes. I earned this coma, thank you very much.”

“Is that code for ‘I shoveled half my plate away in three minutes flat and now my stomach hurts?’”

“No!” ...Yes.

Amity shrugged and began to rifle through Luz’s bag. “Then I guess you won’t mind if I start Chapter 26 without you. Go on, enjoy your coma.” She stood, book in hand, and turned for the stairs.

“ _Amityyy_!” Turning back over her shoulder the witch saw perhaps the best set of puppydog eyes to date, one arm outstretched, fingers grasping, and a pout that could make a stone-cold killer cave.

Amity rolled her eyes. “ _Fine_. I’m going to wash up and get ready for bed, and then I _will_ start reading without you. I can’t afford to stay up late if I’m going to be on time tomorrow. Fifteen minutes, max.”

It seemed enough to satisfy the human, who relaxed back into the cushions with a hum and a satisfied grin. Emira waited until Amity had disappeared up the stairs and heard her bedroom door click shut before rounding on Luz.

“You’ve got to teach me that trick.”

Luz blinked. “Trick?”

Edric settled into the arm chair beside where his sister sat, bowl of ice cream in hand. “Yeah, that thing you do to get Mittens to unbend a little.” He scoffed. “And they say humans can’t do magic.”

Now it was Luz’s turn to roll her eyes. “Pssh. Amity is perfectly flexible.” When her mind caught up with her mouth… _Wait, that’s not what I meant._

Ed snorted into his bowl.

Emira only sighed, reaching out to clap a consolatory hand on her brother’s shoulder. “I think we just need to face the music, Ed. Mittens likes Luz better than us.”

“Could’ve told you that years ago,” he mumbled back around a mouthful of melted cream.

Luz was grateful that her darker complexion made her blushes that much harder to see. “To be fair, I didn’t spend my childhood tormenting her. And wait, aren’t you allergic to dairy?”

He muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘No, just her teenage years.’ Pointing down to the bowl he grinned. “It’s soy, or whatever. Eda got it for me! You think she was serious about marrying me? Can’t lie, I can see the potential perks.”

Luz groaned.

“She _is_ surprisingly foxy for her age,” Emira agreed, cackling as Luz buried her face in her hands then sprung up from the couch.

“Alright, coma’s gone! Good night!” She snatched up her bag and fled up the stairs, the sound of the twin’s laughter fading behind her.

Her first instinct was to burst through the door in a dramatic fashion, as was her way, but it had been barely five minutes and Amity did say she was planning on changing. She knocked instead.

“Ams, you good?”

Muffled more than she would have expected, Amity called back, “Come on in!”

Cracking the door open she found an empty room, but the attached bathroom door was closed and light spilled out from the crack beneath. That made sense then. “Your siblings are monsters.”

A huff of laughter then, “Yes, they are. They broke you down quicker than I expected.”

Could you blame her? The idea of Edric as her Step-Mentor was not easily stomached. She shook her head, trying to banish the mental image. “I’m gonna get changed out here.”

She got a muffled hum of approval in response before Luz heard the sink’s tap turn on. Luz was quick to step out of her jeans and into a pair of cloth shorts with a blessedly looser waist band. She wondered if the person who invented elastic knew how much good they had done for all of humanity. She’d definitely have to Google that the next time she went home.

Her shirt came off next, and she debated unclasping her bra too for the sake of maximum comfort but maybe that could wait until she was laying down to sleep? As Luz turned back towards her bag, planning to pull out her night shirt, her hip collided painfully with the corner of Amity’s nightstand in a drawers-rattling, framed-pictures-falling, expletive-producing kind of way.

“Ow, _fuck_!” She pulled the waistband of her shorts down just an inch or so to see and angry red welt already forming on her hip bone. That was _definitely_ going to bruise.

“Luz!?” She could hear the blatant concern in Amity’s voice, heard the water tap shut off suddenly, but only got the “I’m o-” part of ‘I’m okay!’ out before the bathroom door swung open.

Amity had already changed into a soft pair of shorts and a tank top, and managed to clean off the majority of her makeup. Luz knew that because boy-howdy, her face was _scarlet_ red. The door slammed shut.

“Sorry I-”

“No, I just-!”

“My bad, I hit your-”

“ _Titansake_ …”

“I’m okay!”

“Okay. Good!”

“Yup.”

Silence. Then the tap slowly turned back on.

_Ground, swallow me whole._

Amity for her part stood palms braced on the edge of her bathroom sink, casually practicing her deep breathing exercises. This had been a horrible, terrible, disastrous idea. She was going to murder her siblings in their sleep. And then she was going to murder herself for being such a complete fucking disaster.

Yeah, sure! Okay, they had gone swimming and whatever with the others on warm weekends, it wasn’t like she had never seen Luz shirtless, but even then she had always had a few hours to mentally prepare! And sure, she knew Luz was pretty fit, but the abs were just unnecessary. Why was she like this? What horrible crimes had she committed in a past life to be given a brain that was capable of this level of malfunction? She cupped her hands full of ice cold water and splashed her face, willing the searing heat to fade all while glaring at her reflection in the mirror.

Amity wasn’t exactly ready to go back out and face her yet, but after taking an excessively long time to brush her teeth and clean up the counter even she had to admit that she was just hiding. Blight’s didn’t _hide_. Apparently disaster lesbians did but since she was both it was probably time to face the music. Amity _hated_ the music.

Cracking the door open, she saw Luz sitting on the far side of her bed, back resting against the headboard and knees folded up, the eighth Good Witch Azura book propped open atop them. Completely clothed too, thank Titan. She looked up at Amity’s arrival and smiled, patting the open space beside her. Amity was relieved to see a little bit of blush in her cheeks as well, if only because it meant she wasn’t alone.

“So out of curiosity, which body part did you use to try and bust up my furniture?”

Luz pouted and snapped the book closed before leaning to the side and pulling down the waistband of her shorts. Still barely more than an inch, but it was enough to have ‘Abort!’ sirens blaring inside Amity’s head.

“It reached out and grabbed me, I swear! Your nightstand is out for blood. Cursed, even.”

Amity whistled. The welt had already started to mottle into a purple and red bruise, and it did look painful. Easily tended, though. She traced a small blue circle in the air then reached out and laid her hand on the exposed skin. Luz shivered.

“Sorry. Cold hands.”

“Y-yeah, no. Uhm.”

As the magic seeped into her skin the throbbing pain faded, and when Amity pulled her hand away the budding bruise was barely more than a red mark. Luz let out a sigh of relief. “Man, magic is the _best_.”

“Isn’t it?” Amity settled in as Luz readjusted her waistband and pulled the book back onto her knees. “So did you steal my own threat and start without me? I saw you were reading.”

“So you admit it was only a threat! I was just recapping the last chapter, for your information.”

Amity scoffed and checked Luz’s shoulder with her own, drawing a laugh from the human. “It’s about to become a promise after I toss your ass off the bed. Hurry up, start reading.”

Luz scoffed right back. “As if you could.” Still she cracked open the book and flipped to the bookmarked page.

Azura and Hecate had _finally_ gotten together in the last book, so it was probably for the best that they hadn’t been able to read much together since Luz spent so much of her time back then in the human realm. There were plenty of passages that had Amity blushing just thinking about hearing them in Luz’s voice. At this point in the story they were coming to the end of an arc where the two had been separated for a time.

A miscommunication had left Azura wondering if Hecate had betrayed her, had just been playing with her feelings this whole time. It was engaging and Amity desperately wanted the pair to reconcile, and it was clear Luz felt the same way seeing as she interrupted again and again to bemoan how stupid they were both being.

“Okay, we both know how much I love Azura but I could strangle her right now.”

Amity, who had over the course of the last chapter-and-a-half drifted over to lean on Luz’s shoulder, just laughed. “Maybe Hecate will.”

Luz practically burst with indignation. “Are you saying you think Hecate _did_ betray her?”

“No, but I’d be pretty frustrated in her shoes. I mean c’mon, she’s done so much to show Azura that her feelings are genuine but she still can’t trust her?”

“I know! I mean I get that Hecate put her through a lot but they’re well into the ‘lovers’ part of their Enemies-Rivals-Lovers arc. Just let her help you, Azura!” The degree to which Luz was upset by the fictional pair’s grievances was both endearing and entirely frustrating.

Even though they were shoulder to shoulder Amity still did her best to nudge her. “Well, keep going. I need to tap out in like, half an hour and we still have another chapter to go.”

“Okay, okay!”

So they read on. Azura and Hecate stood on the edge of the Lava Chamber, bathed in sweat, forced to work together to stop the Wretched Goliath from escaping its fiery depths. They scrambled to draw the sealing runes in the proper locations, and when Azura’s footing slipped it looked like it might be all over for her. The searing heat of the magma below seemed like it was reaching up, ready to embrace the hero in her demise until a hand clamped down on her wrist and refused to let go.

Hecate’s nails dug into her skin as she fought for purchase on Azura’s sweat-soaked limb. Teetering on the brink of death Azura looked up at her and saw anger and sadness and a pure love that burned brighter than all of the heat boiling below. _You idiot,_ Hecate said. _I would walk through fire, face a hundred Goliaths, as long as you were by my side. And if you fell I would not be far behind you. There is no life for me in this world if it is a life lived_ _without you_ _._ She pulled Azura to safety.

Amity wasn’t embarrassed by the tears welling in her eyes because Luz was openly crying. The heroines were safe, the Goliath sealed for another thousand years and the end times averted. The two retreated into another chamber of the cavern where it was cool enough to be comfortable, and sank into each other’s arms. They both agreed there could be no life without the other, swore to never repeat their mistakes, and Book Eight ended with a kiss.

Luz snapped it shut and relaxed back into the headboard. She hadn’t realized how tense she had become over the course of the final battle, and wiped at her wet cheeks. “My soul is fed. That was _so_ good.”

Amity laughed and wiped away a stray tear of her own. Maybe it was childish to get so wrapped up in those fictional characters, but could you blame her? Their bond, their ability to trust and lean on one another in hard times, had fulfilled her for years. Maybe one day… She leaned harder into Luz.

“I’m glad they both came around. I don’t think I could handle the angst if Book Nine kept them separated.”

Luz hummed her agreement, and leaned her head to rest on top of Amity’s. “I’d riot. I also really want to draw that end kiss now.”

Amity checked the time on her scroll. Forty-five minutes past when she’d planned on going to sleep, but it wasn’t as if she would have stopped Luz reading. “Not tonight, you don’t.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay.”

Now came the hard part. If Amity was being honest she’d gladly accept the crick in her neck come morning if they both fell asleep exactly as they were. Not that she could say as much. Either way, Luz should have the choice. Just because it was what she wanted didn’t mean the human felt the same.

“So do you want the couch downstairs or are you gonna stay up here?” Nailed it. Casual. Perfect, even if she did stand up to start fiddling with her blankets to distract from another cursed creeping blush.

“Either’s fine,” Luz said around a yawn.

Not helpful. Amity shrugged, pulled her covers back and settled beneath them. She could let Luz work this mire out on her own, even if it was a little uncomfortable seeing as she was still sitting atop half of the blankets. She summoned her scroll to double-check her alarms were set, partially because she wanted to be sure and partially to avoid looking at Luz. Eventually she felt the mattress shift and dip beside her as Luz pulled her legs up and slid them beneath the covers.

Hard Part Pt. 1 complete. Now for Hard Part Pt. 2, which was going to be actually managing to get a decent night’s sleep. She banished the light rune and plunged the bedroom into darkness, listening to Luz get settled as her eyes slowly adjusted. How was she supposed to sleep, on her side? Or on her back, maybe. Amity didn’t want to risk accidentally rolling over onto her in the night, so maybe on her side facing away was best? Yeah, that ought to work.

She hadn’t put much thought into it the last time Luz was in her bed. Hadn’t been able to. Panic attacks always sapped her energy and the last thing she really remembered was Luz rubbing her back until she had managed to stop crying, and then waking up to her leaving at dawn. She wondered for a second how they had arranged themselves then, but there were more than a few ideas her mind came up with that had her shutting down that line of thinking almost as quickly as it began.

She was probably overthinking it.

A few minutes after Luz had settled and stopped shifting, she heard a quiet “G’night, Ams,” from across the bed. From the sound of it Luz had chosen to face away from her as well.

“Night Luz.” She wasn’t sure exactly how long it took either of them to fall asleep.

* * *

_The Night Market was burning._

_Witches and demons scattered in every direction, some with arms filled by possessions, some carrying crying children, some alone. Their faces blurred as_ _Luz_ _passed them but their screams and the crying was all she could hear apart from crackling cinders and snapping beams as structures caved in._

 _Lines and lines of Emperor’s soldiers marched through the streets, firing blasts of magic indiscriminately. Some hit structures and some scorched the earth. Others left huddled shapes disfigured in their wake._ _Luz_ _felt her lungs seize, choked with smoke._

_“We can’t find her!” A haggard voice screamed out at her side._

_She turned to see Boscha half-supporting a limping Willow, one leg bandaged and bloody._

_Luz was frantic. She tried to turn back towards the heart of the flames, running towards them, but her legs wouldn’t move fast enough. She turned a corner but couldn’t remember where she was. She_ had _to keep going though. Craw was here somewhere, she could hear him laughing, and he had Amity._

_This wasn’t going to be like last time, if she was quick enough maybe she could find her._

_Luz wracked her mind. Where did she need to go? Where was she? The market was smothered in smoke and cinders, and the flames leapt from building to building right before her eyes. And just like last time she heard that horrible laugh. Deep, cold, filled with mirth as the lives and livelihoods of those around him were reduced to ash. Luz didn’t want to turn around. Didn’t want to see it again, but the scene had played out in her dreams so often she knew she had to._

_There was Craw, mounted atop his firepanther, Amity bound and gagged in his arms. Even though she couldn’t speak, Luz could clearly see in her eyes that Amity was screaming at her to run._

* * *

Luz jerked awake with a gasp.

Her body was drenched in sweat and her heart lurched in her chest. Two hands pressed down on her shoulders and she fought against the figure looming over her, grasping for her senses so she could remember where she was, what day it was, where Amity was…

“Luz, _hey_. Ssh. It’s okay, you're safe.”

The human melted back into the mattress. Just a nightmare. Just a dream.

Amity was here. Even in the darkness Luz could see the concern on her face as she hovered above her, grip still tight on the human's shoulders, and realized that it must have been Amity who woke her. Without thinking Luz reached up and grabbed her by the waist, pulling the witch down against her chest. She wrapped her arms tightly around her middle and buried her head into her shoulder, eyes squeezed shut.

She didn't notice the witch stiffen, shocked at first, but once Amity felt the warmth of tears leaking out against her skin she let herself relax into Luz’s hold. She slid one arm beneath their now-shared pillow at a more comfortable angle, and with her free hand began to card her fingers through Luz’s hair.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, head ducked now beside Luz’s own. “I’m here. Which one was it?”

It took Luz a moment to respond, and she sniffled twice before whispering back, “Night Market.”

The words sent a chill down Amity’s spine. She’d been held in her cell for two days, awaiting her parent’s return from the hinterlands so they could ‘collect her.’ Luz and the others had rescued her with only hours to spare. She blinked her own horrible memories away and felt herself worming even deeper into Luz’s embrace, more so than actually choosing to.

“It’s okay,” she whispered again, for both of their sake. “I’m here.”

“I just want the memories to go away.” Luz’s tone surprised her. It was sad, but it was also searingly angry for all that it was quiet. The war had changed them all, but in Luz it had sometimes brought out a ferocious temper, seeded by the injustice of it all and watered by the scores of losses. Like a caged animal uncertain of its future forced to fight.

“They will,” Amity assured her. “And those that don’t will be dull one day. They won’t hurt so much. We’re still here, so we can make more good memories to drown them out.” She lifted her head up from where it lay against Luz’s pillow to press a soft kiss against her temple. She was rewarded by Luz’s grip around her tightening and the feeling of a feather-light kiss of her own pressed onto her shoulder.

Luz sighed, trying her best to force her body to relax even if her heart was still beating faster than she’d like it to. “Yeah… You're right. I love you, Ams.”

Amity laid her head back down on Luz’s pillow, snuggled down against her shoulder and smiled. “I love you too, Luz.”

They’d said it before, fleetingly. Professions of love shared between friends when exchanging gifts or doing a favor or small acts of kindness. Loved like Luz loved Eda or Amity loved Willow. But right then in that quiet moment, wrapped up in each others arms and Amity’s fingers running through Luz’s hair, both of them knew that this was a little bit different. Even if they weren’t ready to face it head on, even if it was scary and boundless and without definition they loved one another. Whatever waited in their future they knew the other would be there, whether nothing ever changed or if everything did.

As both drifted back to sleep, warm and tangled together, Hecate’s words ferried them into sweeter dreams.

 _There is no life for me in this world if it is a life lived_ _without you_ _._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...👀 Just gals bein' pals folks, nothing to see here.
> 
> Also this is officially going up from T to M because some of the ideas I've got for the war and some upcoming plot points probably deserve it, idk. Anyways, let me know what you think! If I could quilt together all of your comments and kindness and kudos into a big fluffy blanket I would wear it draped over my shoulders wherever I went and that is a promise.


	9. The Tomes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Luz and Amity do a domestic morning speedrun and Luz manages to make two good impressions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Hi (: I'm alive, and apologetic to boot. No excuses, just I hope to be back on track and you can look forward to some fluffy non-work related chapters in the near future, I promise.

Amity was not one to oversleep. Even on weekends, when she had no reason at all to drag herself out from beneath the covers, her alarm would sound and she would respond. She told herself that a well-regulated lifestyle and the stability it offered was worth it, even if in the back of her mind she knew that holding herself to a strict standard was more of a crutch than anything. Who would she be if she didn’t?

Problem was, Amity had never been so content either. Not in a mindful way, where she was actively appreciating her circumstances. More in a sleep-induced haze, unconsciously clinging to something she couldn’t name but Titan forbid she give up. She wasn’t aware when her first alarm rang out and was promptly dismissed at 5:30, and only slightly more so when she hit snooze at 6:00. Then 6:15 came and went until finally at 6:30 her comfort seemed to shift.

Literally. It started moving beneath her.

“Ams?” Luz’s voice was scratchy and low from the night’s disuse. “Ams, I think you need to get up.”

“Hmm…” Amity hummed, content to doze and let her arms wrap a bit tighter around the foreign warmth in her bed. It wasn’t until the warmth started to chuckle and jostle that her brain began to piece things together.

“Much as it pains me to say this,” Luz grinned down at the mop of bed head beneath her chin, clearing her throat of the last of its sleep-gravel, “If my scroll is right you’ve gotta be at work in thirty minutes and you’ll murder me if I let you keep sleeping.”

Amity jolted into motion. She sprang up, elbows locking and eyes flying open, only to find herself propped up over an equally mussed and sleep tousled Luz. “Thirty _minutes_?!”

“…Good morning?”

Luz couldn’t help laughing as Amity catapulted herself over the side of the bed and hit the hardwood running. Amity’s panic might have been enough to keep her from fully assessing their circumstances, but Luz took a private moment to swing her own legs over the side of the bed, run her fingers through her hair and slap some sense into her glowing cheeks while Amity flung open dresser drawers.

In the middle of collecting her senses she heard Amity mutter, “-fine, no breakfast, there’s time-”

Luz sighed and stood, crossing the room and collecting Amity by the wrists, pulling her up short in front of her. “I’ll heat you up something downstairs, you shower. What do you need for the day? I’ll leave it by the door.”

She didn’t miss the way Amity’s eyes flicked from her eyes to her hair to her shoulders to her lips, but she didn’t comment on it either. “Uhm. My bag, and my notebook? On my desk.”

“Done. Go wash up.” Luz let her go and both escaped to their respective tasks.

\- - - - -

For being the witch-equivalent of trust fund kids, Luz mused to herself as she picked through their fridge downstairs, they were surprisingly good at taking care of themselves. Mostly Amity and Emira’s doing, of course, but there were a number of labeled containers waiting for her to choose from. It was easy enough to find the leftovers of some scramble one of them had made, and it was dated from just two days ago so it would have to do.

As the contents began to sizzle in the pan, Luz quickly sifted through cabinets until she found some thin flatbread that was not only (thankfully) a staple in most kitchens on the Boiling Isles, but close enough to a tortilla to serve her purposes. She could still hear the shower running upstairs, and tried her best to block that out and focus on the task at hand.

Problem was, she was embarrassed. Last night’s nightmare had taken its toll, as they always did, but it was the first time Amity had been there to witness the aftermath. And Luz knew she felt better than she would have otherwise, having been gifted with the immediate relief of knowing Amity was there and Amity was _safe_. That presented its own sort of problem too, because it was a weird thing to find something so helpful while having no rational way of asking for more. It was the best night’s sleep she’d had since the war started.

So, as she so often did, Luz pushed those thoughts aside.

The tap upstairs turned off, and Luz scooped out a hearty portion of scramble onto the waiting almost-tortilla, folded it up the way her Mami had taught her, and wrapped it in a small thin cloth to help it stay warm. Amity’s bag sat beside the door, next to the pair of shoes Luz had seen her wearing at dinner the night before.

Amity clattered down the stairs with little to no regard for her sleeping siblings and flew into the kitchen. She fought to wrangle her still damp hair into a tie, forgoing her usual half up, half down look in favor of a full ponytail. Yesterday’s skirt and blouse had been traded for a pair of well-tailored maroon pants and a black button-up, sleeves rolled to her elbows. Luz passed over the breakfast wrap with a soft smile and grabbed her by the shoulders when she tried to bolt towards the door.

“Ah, no! No.”

Amity whirled on her, eyes frantic and sparking, and Luz was half expecting her to call up a spell circle.

“Don’t give me that look! Knowing you you’ll try to eat that running, and if you choke on your way to work you’ll be worse than late.” Luz raised an eyebrow, spun the two until Amity’s back was towards the kitchen and hers towards the door, and took three long bounds until she was able to lean up against the door frame.

“Luz, come on!”

“You’ve got fifteen minutes, which means you have five to eat and ten to walk. Take a breath _hermosa_ , you’ll be fine.”

“As if my abomination couldn’t move you!”

“I will set off flame glyphs on every wall of this house.”

Amity glared at her.

Luz blinked.

Amity tore the cloth covering off of the wrap, grumbling, “You _know_ I don’t understand Spanish.”

“I am very aware.”

\- - - - -

Roused by the ruckus downstairs, and privately intrigued by the sounds of the two bickering, Ed and Em descended just in time to find Luz with her eyes locked on her scroll held in one hand, and holding Amity off at arm’s length with the other.

“Twenty more seconds, one more bite!”

“Luz, you’re going to make me late!”

“Your ‘late’ is most people’s ‘on time.’”

“Ugh!” Amity took another bite with a sort of ferocity that the poor breakfast burrito really didn’t deserve, and to some it might have looked far too aggressive but that didn’t stop Luz from laughing.

Ed and Em propped themselves up at the base of the stair well, more than happy to lurk unseen and watch the show.

“Ten seconds! Got your bag?”

“ _Yes_ , Luz.”

“Notebook?”

“ _Yes_!”

Luz stepped aside and swung the door open. “Okay, try not to sprint through the market, have a good day!”

Amity, thoroughly beyond her wits and discontent with the war between frustration and gratitude for the fact that Luz is honestly just looking out for her, scooped up her bag, ducked under Luz’s arm, then stood on her tip toes to press a quick kiss to her cheek. “Thanks for breakfast. See you soon.”

And then she was gone.

As far as Luz was aware, no one was present to watch her hang there in the empty, open doorway, blinking. No one watched her slowly close it, latch it shut, or even fall forward to rest her forehead against its frame. “ _Ay dios mio_ …”

“Where’s _our_ breakfast?”

“¡ _Mierda_!” Luz whirled around to find the twins staring her down with positively feral grins.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Suffice to say, Luz bolted. First up the stairs to hastily dress herself then back downstairs and out, dodging the twin’s comments all the while. That had not been on her to-do list for the day, so she’d just… avoid them for the rest or her life, or something. Whatever, she’d figure it out.

Stepping out into the early morning light of Bonesboro she was unsurprised to find the daily bustle already well underway. Given the morning’s setbacks, (her cheeks reflexively warmed, so she shoved those thoughts back down into the depths where they belonged,) Luz could only hope that Harkenhog had kept his word and held onto the materials he’d set aside. Curiosity gnawed at her as she made the short trek from the townhouse to the Day Market, wondering what could have been so special that the ghoul had passed on word.

 _Probably just something expensive he’s hoping to pawn off_ , she thought with a scoff. Shrewd business-ghoul or not, she patted her pockets to double check that her pouch of snails was where it ought to be. Far be it from her to let Amity down.

Luckily the shop was not nearly as crowded as it had been during their last visit. A few witches milled about inside, but there was no clamor and she was able to approach the counter without being noticed as far as she could tell.

“Ah, Miss Luz!” Harkenhog projected from the back, clearly having caught sight of her and simultaneously dashing her hopes. She heard fabric swish as heads swiveled.

“Hi again. Eda said you had something to show Amity?” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder, awkwardly pointing towards the door. “She uh, had work so I’m… here?”

He took her obvious discomfort in stride. “Ah, no matter, no matter! Yes, come have a look.”

He beckoned her over to the far side of the counter then bent behind it to retrieve a small chest. It looked incredibly old, the metal ribbing that made up its skeleton covered in mottled patina and the leather that made up the rest was worn and scuffed and dimpled in a way that made her wonder what creature exactly it had come from. She probably didn’t want to know.

Harkenhog swiveled the chest to the side and Luz watched as he placed his fingers over the lock, causing it to glow bright orange for a moment before producing and audible click. The lid seemed to creak open on its own accord, releasing a gout of dust from within. She craned her neck to see what was inside but the ghoul was quick to produce two bundles wrapped in cloth and then it was closed again just as fast.

When he spoke again the tone of his voice had changed from buoyant to something quiet and wary, perhaps akin to reverence. “Now Miss Luz, these are quite old. I’m afraid I cannot verify their age exactly but I have good reason to believe they predate the Burning by at least three centuries.”

All of the sudden her snail purse felt rather light. _Merciful Titan, please let him accept credit…_

“However, as it stands, they are of little use to anyone. They are written in an archaic form of common and there are too many words for which we have lost the translation, symbols that no longer even appear in our lexicons.”

Luz privately noted that he looked deeply disappointed by the fact, given that an alternative would probably make these priceless artifacts instead of, as he himself claimed, useless.

“Alright,” she hummed. “Can I take a look at their pages? I don’t know if I can shell out the snails these must be worth without seeing it for myself. Amity would kill me if I set us up on an impossible task.” She flashed him a rueful smile, partly because it was true, and partly because she could already hear the witch’s exasperated voice in her mind.

“Of course, of course!” He exclaimed.

Pulling back the cloth covering, Luz found a journal as frail and brittle looking as she had ever seen. Its leather binding was cracked and crumbling near the point of disintegration and its pages didn’t seem to be in much better shape. He gingerly turned open the cover to the title page, and Luz tried to control her expression while a bolt of surprise surged up within her.

The opening page was clearly hand-inked with meticulous care, displaying a title that had long since worn away from the front cover, ‘ _Ɵe Hystore de Poƿyr_.’ Surrounding it were beautiful illuminations of twisting vines. More words were written at the bottom of the page too, some Luz could plainly read or guess at their meaning, but others too interspersed with odd characters for her to be sure. However, it was the intricately designed illustration between them that had her breath catching in her throat.

 _Is that… Could that be a glyph_ _?_ It was a perfect circle encasing entwined lines which looped through one another so precisely Luz couldn’t tell where one began and another ended. The final product looked… almost floral in nature, but designed with a level of complexity she had a hard time imagining she could ever faithfully replicate it. Her hand twitched, wanting to reach out and tap it just to see, but…

Probably not her best idea. There had been enough previous experimental incidents for her to have learned that. Even if it was a glyph, she still didn’t have the first clue what it might do and once again she heard Amity’s voice in her mind, steering her away from her usual fits of lunacy. Harkenhog flipped through several more pages, and in them Luz caught glimpses of multiple other hand drawn illustrations. Many of plants and creatures she had never seen before, as well as two more hauntingly familiar circular shapes.

“And is-” she cut off her words, swallowing around a throat that had become scratchy and dry. “The other one is like this as well?”

The ghoul hummed, bobbing his head from side to side. “Ah, similar but not quite. It seems to be the same language, but far fewer illustrations. From what I can make out it seems to be a personal record of some kind, though entries are occasionally sparse and the topics seem rather variable.”

Luz blew a breath out through her nose and brought a hand up to tug the hairs at the base of her neck, thinking hard. Not that she would admit it to Harkenhog for fear of raising his price, which she was well aware he had not yet discussed, some of the linguistic symbols she had seen _were_ familiar to her, even if it was mostly in the terms of math homework. There was no way to know what if any correlation there might help her, but…

“What’s your price?”

“Three hundred snails each, five hundred if you take the pair.”

Luz’s stomach dropped almost as fast as her eyes threatened to pop out of her skull. That was more than she made helping Eda at her stall for an entire month! Then again, she hadn’t spent the last three year’s worth of weekends working for the Boiling Isles’ best grifter for nothing.

“Relics or not, you said yourself there’s no use for them as is. If I needed a doorstop, which is what they’ll probably turn out to be, I can find ones way cheaper. I’ll give you two hundred for the pair.”

Harkenhog’s eyes seemed to gleam, which was weird seeing as he didn’t… really have any. Either way, the game was on. “Curiosities of far less use have sold for much more my dear, and these are peerless. I could go to four-fifty as a kindness, but no more.”

“And each hour we spend poring over them attempting a translation only makes them more and more expensive, on top of the hole you’ll already put in our pockets. I’m not certain its worth the investment.”

“I’m certain Miss Blight will make due.” He smiled down at Luz’s crossed arms.

“Miss Blight isn’t making this purchase, I am. I’ll take them for three hundred, but it’s the most I can do.”

Harkenhog sighed and moved his hands back to the chest’s lock, unlatching it yet again. “I’m sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, much as I’d like to assist you girls, I am a business ghoul at the end of the day.” Luz’s heart clenched but she wasn’t ready to give up just yet.

“I understand, and as a student of Eda I can respect that. But you might consider what’s better for business at the end of the day. Some moneybags who will let those gather dust on a shelf just so he can impress his friends, or the possibility of a translation or key that will undoubtedly raise the value of any other “peerless” relics you might happen across.” Luz uncrossed her arms for the sake of air quotes, and waited.

The ghoul paused, books wrapped again and half suspended between the counter and the chest, clearly thinking hard and fast. Ever so slowly he set them back down with a low chuckle. “Ah, I suppose I should have known better than to haggle with a student of the Owl Lady. A new deal then.” He looked up and locked her eyes with his, and Luz swore she saw something flicker there. Creepy.

She nodded. He had her attention.

“I give these to you now, no charge. Should you manage to make reasonable sense of them, bring your notes for me to review and I will consider that payment enough.”

Luz chewed her lip. “And if we fail?”

“Three hundred snails. I believe you said you were willing to pay that for a doorstop, no?” He grinned, and it widened at the way her nose wrinkled in distaste. She’d walked into that one.

Finally, Luz sighed, knowing this was the best she could probably hope for. “I accept on one condition. _When_ we succeed, and if you find anything else that might be helpful, we’ll expect a discount for making a higher price for other unwitting witches possible in the first place.”

Harkenhog tipped his head back and laughed, not in a mocking way but instead joyful at a deal well wrought. “Very well, Miss Luz.” He stuck a hand out for her to shake. “You’re a shrewd business woman, aren’t you? Eda’s taught you well.”

Luz grinned and shook. She exited the shop with a smile, caring not one whit for the disbelieving stares of the other patrons who had undoubtedly watched and overheard the whole thing.

She made a brief stop at a pastry stall, having skipped breakfast herself, and picked up a thornberry tart as well as two cups of richly brewed tea that she knew Amity favored. Tearing off half of the tart, she hummed in pleasure at the flavors and sipped her tea, strolling towards the library in high spirits. Sure, Eda would probably tear her a new one for blowing all her money if they didn’t manage to make sense of the books, but even if she didn’t necessarily have faith in herself she had more than enough faith in Amity to spare.

The mean-eyed witch at the reception desk shot her a dark look at the sight of beverages in a library so Luz was quick to ask where she might find the new staff working on the research team, paired with the most charming smile she could muster. Sweat began to bead on her brow as those same mean eyes flicked back and forth between her face and her hands, but eventually pointed her towards the back wall. Luz let out a breath and scampered away before the witch thought better of it.

Standing in front of the ‘Staff’ door, Luz wasn’t sure if she was supposed to knock or something, and remembered belatedly that she probably should have messaged Amity that she was on her way... No point worrying about that now though, if she got in trouble she could always throw front-desk-dragon-lady under the bus and she’d only feel bad about it for a few days.

She unlatched the door with the hand holding Amity’s tea and pushed it open the rest of the way with her hip, spinning into the room with a smile. Three heads popped up in obvious surprise at her arrival.

“Luz?”

She beamed at Amity, crossing over to the circular table that had apparently been claimed as her work space, and was currently covered in papers and stacked books. “Don’t sound so surprised, I told you I was heading out right after you did.” She handed Amity her tea, who cupped it with both hands and took a long inhale of the sweet-smelling steam.

“Oh, thanks.” She took a quick sip. “Still, I didn’t expect you for a while.”

Luz grimaced. “The twins were up by the time you left. Let’s just say I had motivation to move quick.”

Amity groaned. “Titansake, what did they do?”

Cheeks flushing, Luz was quick to wave her off. “Don’t worry about it. You’re not going to believe what happened at Gnome Tomes though, Eda’s gonna be so proud-”

A throat cleared on the other side of the room.

Luz swiveled to see Giles, (Oh hey, she _did_ remember him! Yup, still squirrely.) and a girl about her height with long lilac hair and bright green eyes. That must be Lora then, and by the sound of it she had been to one to call their attention.

In a saccharine voice and with a smile to match she spoke up. “Sorry, this room is for employees only, and some of us are trying to work?”

For a blink of time, Luz realized and felt that she was rather out of place there. All three of the witches were dressed in work attire, and there she was busting in on them in jean shorts and a tank top, two travel cups in hand, blabbering. Somehow the way Lora spoke reminded her of people she’d known in the human realm too, and the immediate result had her folding in on herself whether she liked it or not.

“Actually Luz is here by my request. It is work related, I assure you.” Luz wondered if Amity’s voice could have cut through stone, because it sure sounded like it.

Lora’s eyes flicked across Luz, rested pointedly on the twin cups of tea, then back to Amity. “ _Right_.”

Turning to Amity, Luz murmured, “It’s alright, I can head out and just explain everything later tonight once you’re off work.”

“No Luz, you did me a favor to help on my project, there’s no reason for you to go right away. If some people are finding it hard to focus on their work, we’ll just go elsewhere.” She shot a pointed look at Lora and stood, resting a hand on Luz’s shoulder as she did. “Hang tight, I’m going to let Archivist Silgur know I’m relocating to one of the private work rooms.”

Startled but warmed by Amity’s words, not that she would have doubted her, Luz nodded mutely and watched her go. Lora’s scoff broke her from what might have been a daze, if you wanted to get technical about it, but by the time Luz turned back to her the older witch was buried back in her book. Giles, nervous as ever, didn’t seem to know whether to look a Lora, Luz, or his own papers. Luz flashed him a smile.

She broke the brief silence with an exaggerated whisper, “Good to see you again, Giles.”

He blinked, but smiled back. “You too, Luz.”

The silence that followed was strained but mercifully short. Footsteps could be heard in the hallway Amity had disappeared down, and when the witch re-emerged she was accompanied by an older man Luz hadn’t ever seen before. A once-over painted him as the stiff, proper type so Luz stood and extended a hand.

“Hello sir, Luz Noceda. Sorry to intrude.”

“Not at all, Miss Noceda. I’ve been hearing your name more and more often in recent months. Archivist Danson Silgur.” He shook the hand offered. “Amity said you’ve brought some rare books to assist with her work?”

“Hopefully, sir, but I’m afraid there’s a bit more to it than that.”

His mouth quirked up at the side, barely more than the ghost of a smile, but Luz got the impression that was a lot for this particular witch. “In my line of work, there usually is. Come with me, I’ll arrange an additional work space for the two of you.”

Sufficiently emboldened by the project head’s relatively warm welcome Luz tossed a look over her shoulder as she trailed the pair out of the room, down the other side of the hallway. Catching Lora’s eyes she found her glowering in their wake, and if she just so happened to stick her tongue out at the purple-haired witch, who had to know?

  
  


The private work room reminded her of a university office, with cream colored walls paneled in dark wood from the waist down. A large window was set into the far wall, overlooking a residential area of Bonesboro behind the market. The wall to the right of the door was lined with a bookshelf from the wooden floors all the way to the ceiling, and in the center of it all sat a large desk, one large plush chair behind it and two comparatively simple chairs in front. All in all, if Silgur turned around and told her this was the principal’s office and she actually _was_ in trouble, well, Luz wouldn’t be surprised.

Silgur moved behind the desk to seat himself in the largest chair, gesturing for Amity and Luz to take the two that remained. “I’ll leave you to your business in just a moment, but perhaps some insight first might be useful?” He folded his hands before him, and appeared genuinely curious.

Amity quickly filled her boss in on how they had come to Gnome Tomes in the first place, and what they’d found on their first visit. She skirted around the bit where Harkenhog used them as an example of status in an effort to drum up business, which Luz was grateful for, and instead leaned into his willingness to help leading up to his remarks made to Eda.

“And because I was due in just as his stall typically opens, Luz volunteered to see what he had for us.” Amity gestured to Luz, who was doing her best to sit patiently with minimal fidgeting.

“Right!” Eager to tell her part, she produced the cloth-bound books from her bag and laid them down with gentle care. “So, these seem awesome with an added layer of mystery-puzzle-solving, and who doesn’t love that?”

Amity gently kicked her beneath the desk, cutting her ramble short before she had the chance to get going. She might have been well-aware of Luz’s love for mysterious plots but she doubted her boss needed the full backstory.

Luz nudged her back but, message received, leaned forward to unwrap both. With hands just as gentle as the ghoul’s had been, she opened to a random page. “Harkenhog said that he was reasonably certain both of these are from at least three centuries before the Burning, and potentially older. The language is an archaic form of common, so they can’t be clearly translated.”

Silgur leaned forward with a historian’s keen interest and eye, pouring over what limited phrasing it had to offer. He hummed, brows furrowing. “Oh yes, I see what you mean. I’ve never seen the like, but granted I’ve seen precious few pre-Burning tomes in my day.”

“Here’s the thing though! I think Amity and I can do it. On her part because she’s _brilliant_ , and on mine because I recognize some of these symbols.” She held up a finger, eyes glinting. In fact she was so enraptured she entirely missed the way Amity’s cheeks began to tinge pink and carried on. “They’re still common in the human realm, and found in loads of our old languages. Also math homework, but that’s besides the point. So I can’t say for certain that their meanings will match up, but I think it’s worth a shot.”

Silgur leaned back in his chair, hands still folded and thinking hard. “How can you be certain that these tomes will contain relevant information? I can’t have Amity wasting her time when there are other aspects of the project that could be addressed.”

“Because,” Luz said, excitement hardly stemmed, and flipped back to the first page with it’s intricate designs and beautiful lettering, pointing down at the center. “I’m fairly certain that is a glyph.”

Amity sat bolt upright and peered closer, pressing herself into Luz’s shoulder as she did. “How certain is fairly certain?”

“Well apart from the standard circular model, I’ll admit the complexity is on a whole other level from what Eda, Lily and I have been able to discover. Really, it’s the precision and care taken with the line work. I mean sure our glyphs are basic but we’ve only been able to discover basic forms of magic through whatever the Titan has been willing to show us, right? What would glyphs look like if you had centuries of study and a whole society that used them to back you up?”

The more Luz spoke, the faster her words spilled but Amity had four years of practice in keeping up. “Do you have any idea what it might be used for?”

Luz chewed on her lip. “It’s impossible to say without just tapping it and-”

Amity shot her a stern look, to which Luz held her hands up immediately placating the lecture that was bound to follow.

“I know, I know! You don’t have to tell me again, not after last time. But check this out. I mean, see the curves here, and how they’re mirrored down below? It looks a bit like the cold wind glyph, but what does this bow remind you of?”

“Hard to tell with all the entanglement, but not dissimilar to your ice glyph I suppose.”

“Exactly! But if you turn it slightly,” she reached up to angle the book to the left, neither aware of Silgur watching their interaction with rapt attention. “With the change in perspective, I see a connection between these angled lines and even though they carry on it’s almost like-”

“Your fire glyph…” It was more a soft exhalation of curiosity and wonder than an answer, and all the proof Luz needed to know that Amity was just as intrigued as she was by this point. Mission accomplished.

“So yeah, I’m pretty sure its a glyph. I’d try to replicate it but on top of having no clue what it does, I think I need to step up my penmanship first too.”

For the second time that day, a cleared throat brought the two out of their conversation. Amity flushed scarlet red, realizing that she’d let herself get carried away in front of the lead archivist, but Silgur hardly seemed displeased. Both looked up to find his arms folded and appraising Luz in a new light.

“Well, Miss Noceda. While I confess to having had professional curiosity about your human magic, I had no notion you took your studies so seriously. It seems more involved than I’d assumed.”

“Er, yes sir. To be honest when I first came to the Isles discovering glyphs was mostly happenstance. Once Eda lost her magic though, and Lilith too, we started to take things more seriously. Once you start looking for the Titan’s natural patterns they crop up in the strangest places.” She offered the man a crooked grin, thinking ruefully of all the scrapes and scuffles they had gotten themselves into seeking out more.

Silgur ran a thoughtful hand over his chin. “Very well, then. Now to be clear, I don’t have the funding to pay you for your assistance but I believe your input could be valuable here as a consultant. If you’re both willing I have a mind to rearrange our agenda, with Mr. Monce and Miss Hargreeves focusing more on histories and leaving the practical application side of things to you, Miss Blight.”

Luz beamed. “I’m more than happy to help out Amity however I can, sir. After all, her professional success is going to be directly linked to my magical abilities, so I think that’s incentive enough. I do have obligations to the Owl Lady too, though.”

He cast a discerning look between the pair. “Of course. Amity?”

Thoroughly flushed, Amity still managed to nod. “I agree, sir. It would be a loss not to involve the person who rediscovered the Titan’s wild magic in the first place. Mutually beneficial seems mild phrasing, all things considered.”

Silgur clapped his hands, a note of finality. “Right. Well then, from now on when Miss Noceda is joining you in your work, you are free to use this office at need. Please keep me informed on the progress of these translations, and best of luck to you both.”

With no more pomp or circumstance, he turned and left.

Amity was subjected to another one of Luz’s cursed (delightful) squeezing, spinning hugs, and took a long moment to absorb the sense of victory in them returning to the common room to collect her things. The look on Lora’s face was priceless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with this our plot snowball is officially rolling! Can you believe it? An _actual plot,_ I know, I'm surprised too but just trust me on this one. Tune in next update for Camila and Amity's reunion and a venture into the human world. 
> 
> (P.S. You're all delightful and if you managed to stay interested in this a month past the last update, you're braver than any US marine and I salute you. Did I mention I'm sorry? I'm so sorry.)
> 
> (P.P.S Thornberry tarts are canon now, I don't make the rules, everyone please say thank you [Rohad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rohad/pseuds/Rohad) and then go read _all of their fics._ Deadass woke up at 2am, binged Immortal Devotion, and my writer's block was cured. It's a freakin' miracle.)


	10. The Human Realm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Amity visits the Human Realm and Camila reconsiders a few things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another update! I really want to thank everyone for all the kind words last chapter after such a long break, it's beyond reassuring to know that people are still interested in seeing this continue. Thank you for keeping faith, ~~whether I deserve it or not.~~
> 
> (Side note, I'm relying on Google Translate for conversations in Spanish, which I do not speak. If any native speakers have corrections or suggestions I am all ears and really appreciate it!)

As things stood, Luz thought it was probably a good idea to hit up multiple libraries over the weekend. Human libraries that is, seeing as she was already supposed to head back home to let her mother know how she was settling in. If she went back the following weekend too she could return whatever she borrowed, so it was perfect. Of course Eda found that a perplexing notion because why would you ever give something back that you already had? But that was Eda, and Luz eventually gave up trying to rationalize it.

‘ _Amity can just duplicate the books here,_ ’ Luz reasoned.

‘ _What are we going to do with a bunch of mostly useless books,_ ’ she asked.

‘ _Are you willing to steal the human snails for the fees it will cost Mami, then?_ ’

It fell on deaf ears, and far be it from her to keep her mentor from a bit of casual kleptomania. All in all she figured the less Eda knew the better and Lilith seemed to agree. So yeah, she was going to go home and visit as many libraries as she could, get as much information on old human languages as possible, and step three? Who knows. Step four, profit. Perfect plan.

The only real question that remained was whether or not Amity would be coming with her.

The idea didn’t even occur to Luz until Thursday, as they were walking out of the library stiff and stretching after a day of inactivity. Physical inactivity anyways, because mentally Luz felt exhausted. Things were coming along well considering they’d only been at it for a few days. The pair had decided to each take one book and start out with the words they knew for sure, those that didn’t need translating or didn’t vary so far from modern spellings that they couldn’t be easily guessed. It wasn’t hard but good lord, it was tedious.

“Man, I can’t wait to just veg out in front of a TV screen tomorrow. Crystal balls are great and all, but you haven’t lived until you’ve watched the remastered Azura anime series in 4K.”

Amity blinked at her, readjusting her bag on her hip. “I understood… most of those words.” She was anecdotally familiar with several human terms and customs after having known Luz for so long, but that did little to provide any sort of clarity.

“You know, vegging out? Just going full couch potato, moving for only the most dire necessities?”

“A potato is a food, right? What does that have to do with furniture?”

Luz threw her hands up in mock exasperation, trying to feign frustration even through her laughter, which became mixed laughter that accompanied them as they began their walk back to the townhouse.

“You know,” Luz began again once she had caught her breath, “You really have to come see it one day. You think the Boiling Isles are crazy, wait until you see-!” Luz cut off her words with a gasp.

Amity froze, eyes wheeling about, mistaking her excitement for alarm. “What? What are you…?” It melted away at the glimmer in Luz’s eyes.

“Oh! _No_ , wait, sorry. I just had a thought that should have occurred at _least_ forty-eight hours ago. Amity! You’ve gotta come with me!”

Luz grabbed both of Amity’s wrists and pulled her round in an excited circle. Why didn’t she think of that earlier? I mean, duh! Amity had better recollection than she did, and even if Luz had written down as many odd symbols and strange words as she reasonably could, there was no doubt in her mind that Amity would be just as much use at a human library, witch or not.

“What?” Amity reeled, still trying to shake off her sudden shock.

“Tomorrow! Mami is expecting me at noon, so I guess you’d have to check with Silgur, or we could just go after you’re off work.” Luz’s excitement dimmed a hair, and she rubbed the back of her neck. “I’m sure she won’t worry too much if we’re a little late.”

Granted, the way Camila had broken down at the sight of her daughter after two long months of no contact, and received her battered and bandaged to boot, maybe Luz wasn’t so sure… But it’d probably be fine?

Amity shook herself, finally getting her brain back in working order. Luz wanted her to come along? To spend the whole weekend with her and her mother? Childhood home? Human realm? Okay, maybe not entirely back to ‘working order’ but she was sure processing. Amity grabbed her by the elbow and pulled them to a stop.

“Luz, _what_?”

Luz, for her part, seemed largely unfazed. “Yeah! Why not, it’ll be _great_ . I can show you the Azura anime, and just the internet in general too. We could go see a movie, and I’ll cook you a bunch of weird human foods, and – Oh shit, you’ve never read fanfic either!” She took Amity by the shoulders and gave her a gentle (for Luz, anyhow) shake. “Come on, come with me tomorrow! It’ll be awesome. I promise we’ll spend just as much time at libraries and whatever, but there’s _so much_ I want to show you!”

Luz knew Amity as well as anyone, and her ‘Hold on, I’m still processing’ look was one she was very familiar with so she gave her a few beats of silence and time.

Finally, “You’re sure your mother won’t mind?”

“You kidding? She’ll be thrilled to see you again.”

Amity let her breath go in a whoosh. It wasn’t like she had plans for the weekend. She probably would have wound up spending more time working off the clock and called it productivity, and any extra time spent with Luz instead was… appealing. So as much as she typically disliked sudden changes to her schedule she couldn’t deny the draw.

“Well. I suppose we could go ask Silgur-”

Luz cut off her half-agreement with a whoop and dragged the witch back the way they came.

Given that Luz did most of the talking, and that it was one of her more excited rambles that Silgur had been subjected to in just the two days since meeting the human, Amity decided to classify her boss as ‘begrudgingly amused’ at the notion. At Luz’s request Amity summoned her phone from where it lay (largely unused these past few days) at the Owl House, and after a bit of grumbling about how King was still using all her battery life to watch YouTube videos she made a good show about providing Silgur picture proof of how extensive some human libraries really were. Amity had to admit she was impressed, even if she wasn’t sure what ‘college’ or ‘linguistics department’ meant in terms of human society.

In the end Silgur had bent under the weight of Luz’s unrelenting excitement. He agreed that the human would keep her intended schedule, from noon Friday to noon Monday, provided Amity would be prepared to come in Monday afternoon with proof that it had been worth missing a full day of work on the Boiling Isles. Amity didn’t have a clear picture of whether he thought human libraries would actually have anything to offer, or if it was more Luz’s charm that witches few and far between were immune to after extended exposure, but she wasn’t going to argue.

Of course, showing up at the Owl House late Friday morning she was wondering if maybe she should have.

A whole weekend. A long weekend, even, just Luz and Camila and the human realm. What in Titan’s name had she gotten herself into? Luz had promised to answer all of her questions and keep her safe, not that she had any doubts there, but there were still a whole lot of unknowns she was about to walk into. If Hooty hadn’t been so insufferably himself, she might have lingered outside the door long enough to lose her courage.

“Hi angry friend! I’m so glad you came to visit me, I have so much to tell you! Okay, okay. So _yesterday,_ I saw the biggest- Ow!” Hooty’s burgeoning ramble was rapidly (and alarmingly) cut short by the door banging open to reveal Eda, arms crossed and smirking.

“Hey there Baby Blight! Right on time.”

Hooty’s voice, aggravated but still smothered by the wall he was currently smashed against, began to grumble. “Sheesh, I was in the middle of talking here, no one ever-”

“Yeah, yeah.” Eda checked her hip against the door, stifling the house demon. “C’mon in kid, Luz is almost done packing.”

Amity trailed the Owl Lady into the now familiar interior. Lilith popped her head out from the hallway that led to the kitchen and offered a wave, which Amity returned alongside a smile, before disappearing back to whatever she was occupied with. She went to drop her own bags down beside the couch, content to wait.

Amity was about to offer Eda a bit of polite small talk, standard procedure and all that, but the older witch beat her to it by hollering at the top of her lungs, “Luz, your girlfriend’s here!”

Amity’s shoulders scrunched up to her ears, color rushing into her cheeks so fast she was genuinely concerned about fainting for a second. Of course, Eda only got to enjoy her embarrassed misery for a second or two, paired with an audible thump of something (or someone) falling to the floor upstairs, before a gout of fire whizzed down the stairs seemingly intent on one target and one target alone. Amity watched with wide eyes as the Owl Lady ducked and weaved, diving out of the fireball’s path in pursuit of her staff. By the time she had Owlbert in hand and managed to vacuum up the flames she was only partially singed.

“Damn, kids getting way too good with those tracker glyphs,” Eda murmured to herself, patting a few remaining cinders off her shoulder.

Lilith wheeled into the room, taking her sister by the shoulders and steering her back towards the kitchen in tune with Luz’s heavy footfalls on the stairs. The choreography of the transition was so smooth Amity couldn’t help but wonder exactly how many times it had played out before.

Luz appeared for once looking almost as red as Amity usually did, and despite Lilith's best efforts Eda still clawed her away back around the corner of the hallway with enough time to shoot her apprentice a signature pair of finger guns.

Luz, naturally, flipped her the bird.

“Ignore her,” She grumbled once they were alone. “Eda’s just mad I’m taking the key so she won’t be able to come along and flirt with Mami this time.”

“Oh… I see.” That was a lot to unpack.

Luz cleared her throat, gesturing with an air of desperation towards Amity’s bags. “So! You got everything you need?”

More than willing to put all of that behind them, Amity nodded vigorously. “I think so. I mean, I’m not sure how well my clothes will blend in in your realm but I packed what I could.”

Luz waved her off. “Don’t worry about that. It’s Portland, I’m sure we’ll see weirder.” Casting a seething side-eye towards the kitchen hallway, she added, “Give me just a sec. I’ll go get the portal key.”

With footfalls just as heavy as those that had carried her down the stairs, Luz stalked off. A rapid-fire hissed conversation ensued, alongside the occasional thump and crash (paired with more-than-hissed expletives in a rainbow of vulgarity,) culminating at last with Lilith’s voice breaking in, “Titan preserve me, you are both _children_!”

When Luz finally reappeared, scuffed but grinning victoriously, she scooped up her own bags and Amity’s alongside them, all but dragging the witch out the door. Stepping through the arch she tossed over her shoulder, “See you Monday! Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to tell Mami you didn’t like the way her new dress fit, bye!”

Eda only managed, “ _What_?! That’s not true! Luz, don’t you dare-” before the door slammed shut.

“Right, time to go!” Luz grinned, teeth flashing, grabbed Amity by the hand and took off for the woods behind the house at a run.

Despite the absurdity of the situation Amity found herself gasping with laughter by the time the two finally slowed, fighting to catch her breath as Luz pulled the signature key from her pocket. She wasted no time summoning the doorway and yanking Amity through.

  
  


\- - - - - - - - - -

  
  


The world that lay on the other side was not what Amity had expected, not that she ever really settled on a concrete idea of what Luz’s home world was like in the first place. For one thing, they were on a porch of a ramshackle building unlike any she was used to seeing in the Isles. Sure it was breaking down in almost every aspect, but it was also short and square and symmetrical which struck her as odd. Beyond that was a forest filled with strange trees, void of the usual reds and oranges and purples that marked the foliage of home, beneath a sky more blue than violet.

Her nose wrinkled at the first inhale.

Luz sighed. “Yeah, I know. Believe it or not, it’s better out here in the woods. In the city the pollution is so thick you’d think you could choke on it.”

The human cast one last look over her shoulder into the building’s interior before carefully tucking the key away into a small pocket on the front of her backpack, double checking that it was zipped tight. Amity could tell she missed the Isles already, and for the hundredth time remembered how foolish she’d been to think that Luz would ever want to to stay here. Granted, her perspective was getting clearer and clearer with every step they took away from the shack in the woods.

Wrappers and plastic bottles and beer cans cropped up every few dozen yards, which led her to assume that trash gremlins weren’t a thing here. Why that meant humans just left their refuse around anyways was beyond her. The nearer they got to the roadway, low roars and rumbles began to become audible. At one point a blaring siren rang out, brief and muffled by distance but still a break among the birdsong and the wind.

Luz reached out for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Don’t worry, that was just a car horn.”

Amity frowned but allowed herself to be pulled forward, neither making any move to drop the other’s hand. “Those are human carriages, right?”

“More or less,” Luz agreed, lifting a small branch up out of the path so Amity could duck beneath it. “They’re not pulled by creatures, though. They have engines, which is a machine, and run on fuel. That’s part of the reason why it smells so weird here.”

Amity hummed, not at all sure what to make of that.

They stepped out onto a smooth paved walkway beside a smooth paved road, no cobblestones or merchant stands in sight. Just structure after structure, all more or less evenly placed with manicured lawns on all sides. Farther down the road Amity saw some wheeled boxes rumbling past and pieced together, _Ah. Okay. Cars._ When Luz pointed to the house nearest to them, grinning and proudly proclaiming it as her own, she additionally pieced together why Luz had told her not to worry about her ears because they wouldn’t be going far.

Pausing at the far end of the home’s walkway, Amity caught herself looking about. “So this is where you were when Owlbert stole your book?”

Luz huffed out a laugh, smiled and pointed to a spot a pace or two away. “Yeah. Almost exactly here. He scooped it out of this trash can.” She patted the hunk of metal with more affection than a garbage bin probably deserved, but Amity could appreciate the fond memories. Everything had changed after that.

Luz took a moment to take in the quiet suburb before shaking herself. “Come on, Mami will be waiting.” She towed the witch up the walkway, grinning as she saw the living room curtains twitch.

The door swung open before she had the chance to knock.

Camila swept Luz up into a fierce hug, which was an impressive feat given that Luz stood a head taller than her mother these days. Amity smiled as the human was overcome with laughter, and drowned out by a string of words she might not be able to understand but the affection was clear.

“¡ _Oh, cariño, es tan bueno verte! ¿Y has traído a Amity contigo? Qué maravilloso_.”

“ _Mamá, solo ha pasado una semana_.”

“ _Se siente como una vida para una madre._ ” Camila released Luz and turned to Amity, opening her arms in the invitation of a hug which Amity gladly accepted. “ _Hola_ Amity, I wondered when I would see you again but I didn’t think it would be so soon!”

Amity smiled, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s good to see you too, Ms. Noceda. It didn’t take Luz long to stir up trouble, I’m just here to help.”

Luz let out an offended squawk, glaring at Amity over her mother’s shoulder. “ _Trouble_ seems like harsh phrasing!”

Camila leveled her with a dry stare, clearly unsurprised and more than willing to take Amity’s words at face value. “Oh yes, I’ve heard that one before. Well, come on girls, let’s get you settled in.”

  
  


Amity spent a good long while ogling the inside of a human abode. Luz and Camila were content to let her explore as needed, and gladly offered explanations to her questions. The front door led into a living space not unlike what she would have expected back on the Boiling Isles; there were couches and tables and sitting chairs. There was also a strange flat rectangle mounted on the wall (A television, Luz informed her,) below which sat what might have been books except they were bound in plastic and didn’t seem to have any pages (DVDs.) Amity wasn’t sure what a dee-ve-dee was, but that seemed like a problem for another time.

Comparing the Owl House to the home Luz had grown up in was a shock in itself. In Amity’s mind, Luz’s home was filled with wanted posters and useless knick knacks and weapons mounted on walls. Instead she found white walls marred only by picture frames, flat surfaces occupied by the occasional house plant. It was a shock to her system in some ways. How on earth had a home like this produced a person like Luz? Amity couldn’t quite wrap her mind around it.

Once the witch had her bearings, Camila sat the pair down at the kitchen table and folded her hands beneath her chin, happy to listen as Luz poured out everything that had happened in the past week. Willow and Gus’s first day, foraging with Eda, all the shenanigans she and King had gotten themselves into when not otherwise occupied. It wasn’t until she got to Amity’s work and their growing collection of books that she got a bit stuck.

“Honestly I have no idea where Harkenhog’s even getting these books from, but hopefully we’ll sort some things out this weekend.” Luz fiddled with her mug of coffee, absently tracing the floral patterns of the cup with her finger, flashing Amity an eager smile.

“So the edict was lifted and he just started filling his shelves with forbidden books? I’m surprised people weren’t breaking down the walls.” Camila wasn’t intimately familiar with the Boiling Isles, but she tried for her daughter’s sake to catalogue as much as she could in a genuine effort to make sense of Luz’s new reality.

“Oh, I mean it was pretty crowded the first time we went.” Luz chuckled, reaching a hand up to tug at the hairs on the nape of her neck. “To be honest it kind of sucked, but hopefully Giles and Lora will find something useful in those old histories.”

Amity and Luz shared a knowing glance, the sort that said ‘It kind of sucked’ was putting it mildly, which did not go unnoticed. Camila hummed. “I can imagine, the line must have been horrendous.”

Luz flushed and looked down at her lap, unsure of what to say. _Ha, right. The line. Sure._

“What’s wrong, _mija_?”

Luz cast a quick look at Amity, hoping for some sort of sign. Luz had been… discrete, when it came to the details of the conflict that had kept her from home for two long months. Her mother had been treated to dozens of stories and explanations, and every one of them had carefully navigated around the harshest details. At the time, Luz rationalized that her mother was frantic and worried enough without adding ‘Oh hey, I also almost died _loads_ of times!’ onto the pile. 

The unfortunate side effect now was that some time had passed, and she _wanted_ to be more honest with her mother but that didn’t make talking about things any easier on her or Amity. Whether or not Amity could read all of that in her eyes during their brief exchange Luz didn’t know, but the witch gave her a small smile and reached a hand over to lay atop her knee under the table. Luz let out a breath, covered Amity’s hand with her own, and looked back towards Camila.

“It’s… sort of a long story.” Luz hesitated, wondering briefly if maybe she still ought to put this off for later, but knew that touching on certain memories was best done in the light of day and preferably with as many hours between ‘now’ and ‘bedtime’ as possible.

Camila sat back and listened as Luz dove back into the story, albeit with less enthusiasm and shine in her eyes than before. Getting called up through the crowd, the looks and the whispers, the little boy who brought up the terrible night in the woods, and finally the crying man. Camila had the sense that she shouldn’t pry, shouldn’t ask questions, and wasn’t certain if that was a ‘not right now’ or a ‘not ever’ sort of arrangement. However, when Amity began speaking more details seemed to fall through on their own.

The witch murmured, “You never mentioned that he was there in the Med tent with you… I was wondering why he paid.”

Luz shot her a tight smile. “I didn’t remember until later that night. After Ed called me over.”

Amity flushed and looked down. “Ah. Right.”

Luz intertwined her fingers with Amity’s, where her hand still rested on her knee. “Anyways, I don’t know his name. I wish I did, so we could thank him… He took a hard hit from a vine attack, ruptured a few organs, cracked a few ribs.” Her voice dwindled to a whisper. “He lost his little girl that night, too.”

Luz’s throat felt very tight. 

Only three refugees hadn’t made it to camp, two experienced soldiers who had fought with them and a child, only seven years old. Luz had lost hours of sleep wondering, hoping, wishing she could somehow go back in time to dodge the blow that had nearly made her the fourth. Maybe if she’d been able to stay on her feet, things would have been different.

“Hey,” Amity said, voice quiet, well aware of where Luz’s mind was heading. “ _Hey_.” Again with a bit more force, tugging on Luz’s hand until she lurched out of her thoughts.

“Sorry,” Luz tried to chuckle, but it came out more as a sad huff paired with a rueful half-smile. “It’s just…”

“I know, and I don’t want to be hypocritical because Titan knows I’ve been there too, but neither of us will ever sleep through the night again if we take on every ‘what if’ as a failure.”

Luz blew a long breath out through her nose. “You’re right, I know.”

“As usual,” Amity smiled, and even if they both knew it was forced it helped.

“As usual,” Luz agreed, smiling back.

It was at that point that both seemed to remember they had an audience, and Luz looked back to find her mother on the verge of pale, staring at them both with a new intensity. 

Camila had always expected there was more to this civil war than her daughter let on, well aware that tyrannical regimes rarely fell with ease. For her own peace of mind she hadn’t let herself consider whether her child had truly been in the thick of it. Watching the pair now, the ease at which they inferred the other’s pain and offered comfort around what was left unsaid, she wondered just how wrong she had been.

As a nurse she had seen her fair share of trauma patients over the years. Those who had been in severe car crashes, those who had lost loved ones to fires and floods and domestic incidents, young people who had been assaulted and battered by those they once trusted. In those moments it was easy to remove herself from the horror and offer the comfort and care her training and experience was meant to provide. 

Camila searched for that same calm now, and found it much more difficult.

“I’m sorry, Mami,” Luz murmured. “I don’t want you to worry any more than you already do, I never meant to-”

“Hush, _cariño_ ,” Camila stood from her chair and rounded the kitchen table to pull Luz to her feet, wrapping her in a tight hug. “I’m just glad you’re here now.” Glad she was here in this house, glad she was in the human realm too, glad she was alive and breathing in any realm for that matter.

“All thanks to Amity,” Luz winked at the witch over her mother’s shoulder, delighting in the color that bloomed in her cheeks. “She’s the one who got me to the Med tent in the first place.”

The fact that neither of the girls were willing to expand upon that any further was as clear to Camila as the fact that she and Luz were going to have A Talk at some point this weekend. Not about the war, but about why these two didn’t seem to be able to keep their hands off one another. It seemed a fair trade off to her, to put her meddling mother instincts to use elsewhere. For now it could wait because Camila was quick to release Luz and open her arms to Amity instead.

Ever unused to maternal gestures, it took Amity a moment to blink and process before jumping to her feet. She and Camila were nearly the same height, so it was easy for the older woman to whisper below Luz’s hearing into her ear, “Thank you for watching after her.”

Amity squeezed her arms a bit tighter. “Always.”

Camila pulled away, discreetly dabbing at one eye, before crossing her arms with a sigh. “Well, this old woman thinks that’s quite enough for today. Why don’t you two go drop your things off in Luz’s room, and I’ll get started on lunch. How do chimichurris sound?”

The lingering melancholy left Luz’s eyes in an instant, her hands clapping together in delight. “Oh my gosh, really? _Yes_. Ams, you haven’t _lived_ until you’ve tried Mami’s chimis.”

Amity had no idea what that was, but Luz’s excitement was infectious and she smiled. “I don’t doubt it.”

Luz trotted back into the living room to retrieve their bags from where they’d left them, hauling hers onto one shoulder and Amity’s onto the other. “Also, Mami, you’re not an old woman! You’re in your _prime_.”

Camila’s chuckles wafted out from the kitchen as Luz led them towards the stairs. “Oh, is that so?”

“Just ask Eda what she thought of the dress you wore to my grad party if you don’t believe me!”

Laughter in a fuller capacity followed them up the stairs, and it wasn’t until Luz was turning the handle of her bedroom door that she realized her Mami had assumed Amity would be staying there as opposed to the guest room… Huh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A wild Camileda appears in the tall grass. I'm not even sorry, Eda is surprisingly foxy for her age and Luz needs to get payback for all the teasing _somehow._ Stay tuned for the next update, where Amity gets an introduction into the marvels of the human realm and the two manage to genuinely just have a good time for once.


	11. The Human Realm Pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Luz is unnecessarily mysterious, Camila is a Good Mom, and Amity goes on a road trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this field trip to the human realm started out fairly simple in my mind, but it's sort of spiraled out of control now. Oops... Anyways, a few housekeeping notes before we get started!
> 
> First, I found a few translations for the lyrics to the song Luz sings in this chapter, one of which can be found in the end note of this fic. For my native Spanish speakers (Shout out to Vicente, thank you for your comment last chapter!) let me know if I fuckered anything up and I'll change it as needed!
> 
> Second, it was my birthday this past Wednesday and my **BEAUTIFUL** best friend made me **FAN ART** as a gift??? She also agreed to turn it into a collaboration for a cover art piece for this fic ❤️ And since I'm impatient as hell, I'm posting both her _glorious_ work, as well as the WIP I'm working on. I haven't posted these anywhere else, so since all of you are the real MVPs you get a sneak peek. Let me know what you think! (Note: Their school uniforms will be changed for the cover piece since they're graduated ofc.)

My Birthday Gift:

(Guys, when I tell you I was in TEARS! She is @meegalooo on Twitter & Instagram if you want to check out her other stuff!)

(And this is what I've done so far to create a cover piece! I'm going to go over their whole bodies ofc, this is just what I've done so far. I'll likely take this WIP down during the next update.)

(If you're reading this far into the future A. Hope things are going good, B. Please shame me about forgetting, I deserve it)

* * *

Luz’s room was a world apart from Amity’s, but that wasn't much of a surprise. For one thing it was a tad smaller, though Amity doubted Camila had offered her daughter a duel for the master suite like she’d done with the twins. It contained a bed, desk, dresser and small closet so that was more or less what the witch would have expected. What she wasn’t prepared for was the sudden confrontation of posters and art hanging in almost every available space. Knick knacks and keychains and baubles hung from any available peg or ledge, and for the first time since arriving at the Noceda household Amity started to get the same feeling the Owl House provided. This, she reasoned, finally started to make sense.

Luz apologized for the mess but Amity dismissed her out of hand, too busy studying the wide array of characters and styles and worlds she found strewn across the walls. The human was more than happy to answer questions and explain various backstories as she fiddled with a smaller TV resting on top of her dresser, and a strange black box that sat beside it.

“I don’t want to waste any time,” Luz explained, sifting through DVD cases before grabbing an odd shaped handheld device. She retreated back to her bed and patted the open space beside her. “The Azura anime has eight seasons so we won’t be able to finish it all but that doesn’t mean we can’t get started.”

Luz lay flat on her stomach, Amity next to her with legs folded up, as she explained that a Playstation was a gaming console, and what it was used for, and plenty of other things Amity found herself nodding along to. It was far from the first time that Amity found herself wondering how Luz had managed to make a life for herself in the Boiling Isles, but she was finally starting to get a grasp on how different things really were.

In the blink of an eye that sort of introspection was drowned out by the colorful pictures moving across the screen. Apart from her own fan art Amity had never seen anything like this. The character’s designs acting out scenes she already knew so well, their mannerisms and their voices… Luz spent a long moment smiling at the enraptured witch, cheek propped up on a fist, all with Amity completely unaware. The Boiling Isles had nothing like actors or cinema or even just shows for fun. Sure, sometimes a play would be held for a festival, but that was usually just a dramatic reenactment singing Belos’ praises. Nothing like this.

It culminated in Luz having to drag her downstairs with much protest for lunch, and again for dinner.

Both times Camila sat bemused and warmhearted, watching but speaking little as Amity peppered her daughter with questions about animation and movies and cartoons and... you name it. Luz told her of Hollywood, told her of studios dedicated only to music, only to art, sprawling university campuses that were dedicated to higher learning and casually added on that there were hundreds of them. The human world was vast in a way Amity had a hard time wrapping her mind around, even knowing she had seen less than a drop in an ocean of baffling novelty.

“That reminds me!” Luz gasped, swiveling around to face her mother as she stood to clear the table. “Mami, since this is Amity’s first time in the human realm, do you think… well, could we maybe…” 

Amity looked on with wary curiosity because Luz had been noticeably secretive about the specifics of what she had planned, but she knew that gleam in her eyes. She was planning something. That usually went one of two ways. But Camila just smiled and leveled her daughter with a knowing look, one eyebrow arched.

“Let me guess. You want the car?”

Luz flung herself dramatically down across the table, bent at the waist and arms outstretched in a gesture of pleading desperation. “Just for tomorrow! We’ll take the bus forever from now on, I promise!” Amity’s ears twitched at the mention of ‘from now on’ but she wasn’t about to interrupt. “There’s so many things I want to show her that aren’t on the route, and I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to Uber and besides it’d be _so_ expensive, and-”

“Hush, _mija_. I already asked Jenny to pick me up on her way into the hospital tomorrow.”

The joyous noise that erupted from Luz’s vocal chords was almost as surprising as her darting around the table to pick her mother up in a tight hug, complete with a twirl. At that Amity had to laugh, because at least she wasn’t the only one subjected to them.

She set a breathless Camila back down and rounded on Amity in the same motion. “Do you want to shower now, or in the morning? It’s gonna be an early start but you’re usually up before sunrise anyway. Your choice.”

Amity rolled her eyes. “Tomorrow’s fine.”

“Great! I’m gonna go shower now, then. After that we can- Oh, well, after we clean up the dishes I guess.”

Amity stood and gathered her and Luz’s plate. “Go on, I can help.” To Camila she added, “It was delicious, Ms. Noceda. After hearing Luz wax poetic about your cooking for years it’s good to finally taste it for myself.”

Luz, fit to bursting with excitement, wasn’t about to argue. Amity knew that look, the one that said her mind was miles away sprinting down paths of possibilities. Some time to work it out on her own was probably for the best, unless she wanted to trade time finishing Azura for listening to Luz ramble.

Luz swept Amity up in a hug of her own, and maybe the witch imagined it but she would swear she felt the ghost of a kiss press against her hairline before Luz darted out of the kitchen, hollering over her shoulder, “You’re the best, Ams!”

And then she was gone. 

Amity mentally steeled herself, willing the blush away. “So, how can I help? Luz said you have machines for dishes, but I’ve never used one before.”

Camila just waved her over to the sink. “If you wash, I’ll load the dishwasher and show you how it works.” If it hadn’t been obvious enough earlier, there was no doubt left in Camila’s mind that Amity was curious about every facet of human life, even that which she herself considered mundane.

At first their work was uninterrupted save for the sound of running water, but Amity could tell that Camila was occupied by something other than the task at hand. Unlike her daughter, the older woman seemed more the sort to consider her words carefully before speaking. The pensive silence was enough to make her wonder and fret. Was something wrong? Had she done something wrong? A thought intruded into her inner monologue, and for a second she would swear that it was her own mother standing beside her instead of Luz’s. Amity was in the middle of mentally reviewing every interaction she had had with the woman since arriving when Camila spoke.

“You know, _cariño_ , and I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, but-”

“Sorry,” Amity blurted out, and berated herself a second later for interrupting. “Am I doing this wrong?”

Surprise stole the words away and Camila half turned to examine the sink, instead finding Amity with her ears pinned flat against the side of her head and eyes wide. “Oh, no dear, not at all! No, of course not. That was a careless way to begin, forgive me.”

Camila took the half-washed ceramic from Amity’s hands and set it gently in the sink before leaning her hip against the counter, turning to face her fully. Amity turned as well, (it was poor manners to act disinterested when being addressed after all,) and clasped her hands in front of her so they wouldn’t worry at the hem of her shirt instead. Camila sighed.

“I wanted to thank you, for everything you’ve done for Luz when I wasn’t there.”

Amity’s breath left her in a gust. “… Oh.”

“And I know a bit from what Luz has told me. Or rather, _ranted_ about might be a better way to put it. It seems your own mother is an individual I would have words with were we ever to meet, so I want to be sure to respect your space.”

Amity shook her head, reaching for frantic reassurance. “No! You’ve been nothing but kind, I’m sorry if I’ve made you feel like-” Camila’s hand reaching out, laid gently on her forearm, seemed to steal her words away.

“Don’t apologize Amity, I won’t have it. You’re a sweet, hardworking girl who has looked after my daughter time and time again. Whenever you’re not looking at her like she hung the stars in the sky of course.” Amity was staring at the floor but that didn’t stop Camila from watching color flood all the way to the tips of her ears. “It’s not easy to get a moment alone with either of you, so I just wanted to say now while I have the chance how glad I am you found your way into Luz’s life.”

The younger girl was silent for so long that Camila began to worry she might have pushed too far. In fact she knew she had pushed too far, but was uncertain exactly how far she had toed over the line. Camila was a hair’s breadth away from her own string of apologies when she saw small droplets falling from Amity’s cheeks and chin. 

“ _Ay dios mio_ , come here _mija_.” In for a penny, in for a pound. Camila tightened her grip on Amity’s arm and pulled her into a hug. She half expected the witch to stiffen and pull away but instead, and much to her surprise, Amity melted into her arms and clung there while silent sobs shook through her.

Camila ran a hand softly up and down her back.

“I thought I lost my baby girl forever when she disappeared for those months during the war. But you brought her back to me, and in my eyes you are already a second daughter.” Amity sniffled, and Camila pulled back just enough to turn up the witch’s chin. “I’m sorry for pushing you, dear. Just know that if you ever need a mother to talk to, I’m here for you okay?”

Amity couldn’t quite bring herself to speak, so instead nodded so hard she felt her brain rattle around inside her skull. 

Hoping to lighten the mood, Camila added on, “And if you ever need to get Luz in line, I’d be happy to show you her baby pictures. The threat will work wonders, I promise.”

The laugh it drew out was wet and more of a hiccup, but Camila would count it as a win. She sent her off to wash up in the bathroom down the hall, and by the time a sparkling clean Luz reappeared clad in her finest Azura pajamas it was as if the whole incident had never happened, apart from a hand clasped on Amity’s shoulder as Luz towed her away.

In an unusual turn of events, later that evening it would be Luz who insisted they tuck themselves in for the night. Now it was Amity’s turn to whine and pout and plead for just _one_ more episode, but Luz wouldn’t hear a word of it. Amity knew she must be serious about whatever she had thought up for the following day, and mumbled under her breath that if Luz ended up being too excited to sleep then she would figure out how to turn the magic box back on by herself regardless of what time Luz woke her up the next day.

A second surprise came once the pair had pulled back the covers and turned out the lights, though this one was better received. Much like with Camila earlier, Amity could sense that Luz had something to say. Not that she was at all subtle about it, seeing as she was squirming around like a nest of biter bugs had found its way into her pillow.

“Hey Ams?” She could tell from her voice that Luz was laying on her back, speaking up to the ceiling. Amity rolled onto her side to face her.

“Yes, Miss Fidgets?”

Luz huffed at that. “I wanted to thank you for helping after that nightmare a few days ago.”

Amity blinked... It was like these Noceda women just had a gift for taking her words and wind away. Hadn’t there been enough emotional ‘thank you’s for one day? Conscious that the pause had gone on longer than it should have (and that Luz was beginning to fidget _yet again_ ,) Amity reached out to brush her hand along the human’s arm.

“I don’t think I did all that much. Or at least, nothing more than you’ve done for me.”

Luz shook her head, visible in the gloom only because a witch’s night sight was keen enough to catch it. “You did. I was thinking later that morning that it was the best I’ve slept since the war began.”

When she spoke her voice was quiet, maybe even shy. Amity could probably count on just her fingers the number of times she would have used the word ‘shy’ to describe Luz over the past four years. 

“I was wondering- Well, I mean, it’s stupid... I wanted to ask if.. uhm.” 

Try as she might, Luz didn’t seem able to get the words out. A grin curled onto Amity’s lips, confident that she held the upper hand for once, if only because she could clearly see the color in Luz’s cheeks and felt fairly certain the same wasn’t true the other way around.

“Noceda.” Luz’s rambling cut short. “Are you asking me if I want to cuddle?”

With a huff of exaggerated proportion Luz heaved herself over onto her side, her back now facing towards Amity, shoulders hunched up. That wouldn’t do at all. As nice as it was to tease her instead of getting teased for once, the swarm of butterflies that had sprung up in Amity’s stomach demanded she set things right. So the witch reached out, grabbing Luz by the shoulder and rolling her once more onto her back with less resistance than she might have expected, except for the fact that Luz had covered her face with her hands. 

Amity wriggled her way forward into the space that lay between them, then slowly stretched one arm out across Luz’s middle, pressing herself into the human’s side. The other arm slid beneath her pillow much as it had the last time they found themselves in this position, head nestling into the crook of Luz’s neck just the same.

“Better?”

“Yeah…” Luz let out a small sigh, as if she was relieved, while one arm snaked down underneath Amity and around her waist and the other stretched over top. With clasped hands she held Amity firmly in place, encircled by her arms.

Amity hummed her contentment on the verge of a purr, eyes suddenly much heavier than they were before. “Night, Luz.”

Yet again she felt a feather-light kiss press against the top of her head, and wondered if she imagined it. “Night, Ams.”

Both slept soundly, undisturbed by anything other than pleasant dreams. Neither so much as stirred when Camila popped her head in to check on them before leaving for work a few hours later, but the smile on the older woman’s face followed her all the way to the hospital.

* * *

It wasn’t an alarm that woke Amity the next morning, or even the feeling of Luz slipping out of her grasp. The latter was especially surprising, seeing as the sensation of a gentle hand on her shoulder was unusual enough that it made Amity jolt. She blinked into the pre-dawn gloom, eyes adjusting until she could make out the shape of an already-dressed Luz standing at the edge of the bed.

“Mmf…” She grumbled. “Wha’ time’s it?”

Luz snickered. “A little bit before six. Have I ever told you how impressive your bed head is?”

Amity groaned and tried to pull the covers back up over her head, only growing louder as Luz overpowered her and yanked them away.

“Nope, none of that! What happened to Early Bird Amity? My alarms didn’t even make you flinch.” Luz grabbed her by the wrists and pulled her into a sitting position.

Amity tried to muster a glare, but that was probably diminished somewhat by an uncontrollable yawn. She rubbed the heel of her palms against her eyes in an effort to bully the lingering sleepiness away. Sure, Amity had her suspicions precisely why alarms hadn’t been enough to rouse her recently, but she would keep that to herself for now.

“Anyways,” Luz carried on unperturbed. “I’ve got breakfast started downstairs, and I carried your bag into the bathroom down the hall so everything you should need is in there. Human showers are pretty similar to witch ones, but I can run over everything first if you want?”

Amity wondered if it was possible to bottle up Luz’s excess energy and sell it as a potion. She’d make millions. Food for thought, but for another time. She waved Luz away and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. “I’m sure I’ll figure it out.”

“Alright, message my scroll if you need anything.”

Amity gave her a thumbs up, still trying to muster her will to be conscious, and did her best to ignore Luz’s laughter as she retreated back out of the room.

True to her word, human showers were similar enough so with only minor fiddling Amity was able make it work. Only too late did she realize she had forgotten to bring her own toiletries, so a quick sniff of both bottles of shampoo identified which was Luz’s. By the time she had rinsed off the last of the soap Amity was feeling properly awake and rejuvenated, not that it did anything to diminish her hope for coffee to be brewing downstairs. 

For all of Luz’s assertions that human fashion was widely varied, especially in coastal parts of the country, Amity had chosen her outfits with care. She dressed herself in a pair of grey leggings, over which went a dark green dress that hung off of one shoulder. Around her waist she cinched a black leather belt that went well with her boots. She tugged nervously at the collar and hem of the dress, but trusted Luz to tell her if something was off and stepped at last back into the hallway.

From the top of the stairs she could already smell a new medley of wonderful aromas. The sound of food hissing and crackling while it cooked was accompanied by the muffled hum of music, too. By the time she reached the archway that led into the kitchen, it had become blatantly obvious that not only did Luz prefer to cook to tunes, she didn’t have a half-bad singing voice either. Amity watched with a growing smile as Luz spun and slid around the kitchen, moving between the stove top covered in skillets and a pair of cutting boards laid atop the counters. 

“ _Ay, hace' que la nota nunca se baje. No hace falta nada si estás tú._ ”

Amity propped herself up against the archway, clearly undetected and more than happy to watch the show. Luz shimmied her way back to the stove, scooped up a spatula and began to stir whatever she was preparing.

“ _Yo no sé ni qué hacer... cuando estoy cerca de ti. Tus ojos color café se apoderaron de mí_.” She reached up for the cabinets, pulling down two plates. “ _Muero por un beso de esos que no son de amigos, ey… Me di cuenta que por esa sonrisa yo vivo._ ”

For Luz’s sake Amity waited until the plates were firmly on the counter before, “So this is breakfast and a show, huh?”

“ _Fuck_!” 

An outside observer might think Luz had been electrocuted. She spun around so quickly the towel that had laid over her shoulder flung itself to the floor, and Amity fought to hold down her laughter as Luz lost her balance and thumped back against the counter’s ledge. Amity wanted to apologize, she really did, but that was tough with her hand pressed over her mouth.

Luz’s own hand had flown to her chest, eyes wide before snapping into a half-hearted glare. “Don’t _do_ that!” Any ire was mellowed by her own rising laughter. “Christ, what is it _with_ you Blights and sneaking up on people?”

“We’re genetically predisposed.” Amity grinned and finally crossed all the way into the kitchen. “What were you singing? I never knew you had such a nice voice.”

Luz rolled her eyes, trying to play off her flush as surprise. For the millionth time she counted herself lucky that Spanish was unknown on the Isles. “Oh, nothing. Just the local Spanish station. Good timing though, this is just about ready.”

Luz plated them both a healthy serving of shredded hashbrowns, scrambled eggs with ham and salsa, and even pulled a plate of sliced fruit from the fridge where they had been left to chill. She was as eager as she had been the evening before to explain what everything was, and the closest resemblance she’d been able to find on the Isles. Amity had to admit that everything she’d tried so far was delicious, even if she thought it odd that none of the human foods seemed to be served raw or wiggling. How Luz had adjusted to _that_ particular aspect of the demon realm she would never know.

“Is your mom already at work?”

Luz hummed and nodded, washing down her last bite with a swig of orange juice. “Yeah, her morning shifts start at 5. She’ll be back by the time we’re home this evening, though.”

Amity set down her fork, head quirked to the side. “And are you planning on giving me _any_ hints about what you’re going to subject me to?”

Luz shook her head, beaming. “Nah!”

Well then.

The matter of hiding Amity’s ears was easily solved by a simple illusion spell, even if it made Luz frown and grumble. Amity couldn’t say why, seeing as it was on Luz’s word that pointed ears would definitely draw more attention than Boiling Isles fashion. As Luz locked up the house and ushered them to the garage she explained that while she doubted it would cause scrutiny, per se, it would definitely cause people to look twice. In her own words witch ears were way cooler than boring old human ones so… Duh.

Luz could tell that Amity was more nervous about the car than she wanted to let on as the human slowly backed them out of the driveway. She doubted boasting about how well she’d done on her driving test two years back would do much to reassure her, so instead she did her best to distract her by explaining (to the best of her ability) how cars worked. Eventually conversation shifted to whatever new, odd thing was passing by outside.

“Even the sunrise looks different,” Amity mused. “Your clouds are so… wispy.”

“Not always,” Luz smiled. “Sometimes they’re puffy and soft like they usually are back home. I think it’s ‘cause the Boiling Ocean is so much warmer.” She looked over to see Amity propping her face up on a hand, leaning fully against the window and eyes darting every which way as she fought to absorb as much as she could. 

As the sun steadily rose, the landscape around them changed from suburbs to densely wooded patches of hills and trees, back to residential housing and sometimes small towns. Much like anywhere, the dawn of a new day had people bustling. There were cars and bikes and skateboards, signs and posters and storefronts that seemed so alien to the witch, yet were undeniably commonplace here. Her eyes trailed skyward as they passed a building that must have been at least six stories tall. And there were so many people!

“So is this…” Amity started, trying to gather her thoughts.

“Hm?” Luz flipped on her turn signal, slowed for a red light, checked for traffic.

Amity sighed, frustrated as she fought for her words. “We would have crossed Bonesboro a dozen times by now with how far we’ve gone, and sure there’s been some forested chunks but there are so many houses and shops and…” She trailed off again.

Luz quirked her face up in a half-smile, but there wasn’t much humor in it. “Yeah… If you can believe it, 200 years ago there was practically nothing out here. You haven’t even seen the city yet.”

Amity eyed her skeptically. How could this not be a city? There had to be thousands of people that lived here, and sure it was a bit sprawling, but what on earth was that supposed to mean?

Luz shrugged. “There are a _lot_ of humans. We’re in the metro area already but- Here, see that big elevated bridge up ahead?” Luz put her blinker on again and merged into the lane for the highway’s on-ramp.

Amity nodded.

“The bridge is called an overpass. So many people live in cities that humans built these huge roads called highways through and over other ones. We’re going to be on the highway when we pass the downtown area to get to where we’re going, so you’ll have a good view. Ten more minutes, you’ll see what I mean. It’s hard to explain.”

Amity took her word for it and turned back to the window. Sure enough, ten minutes later as they were cruising down the pavement at speeds Amity frankly felt were reckless, Luz pointed to the horizon.

“See there? Across the river.”

Amity’s jaw dropped. Already from their view above ground Amity had seen houses and buildings stretching for as far as the eye could see in any direction. Now through the morning haze Amity could see the fuzzy outline of buildings larger than anything she had ever seen before, and as the distance slowly closed between them they only grew. 

Towering constructions seemed to claw their way into the sky and traffic grew dense. Luz muttered less than flattering comments about other driver’s ability behind the wheel, and despite it being a weekend the morning crush was still more than enough to slow them down. As they slogged on, Luz explained that buildings here could be made of steel and concrete, not just wood and stone, and that while Portland was the most populous city in Oregon, it was far from the most populated city in the world. 

Luz sighed. “When we get back tonight, remind me to show you videos from Tokyo or New York City.”

Amity looked at her in bewilderment. This was fantastically insane. Her mind was racing as she tried to consider for the first time not just how strange this realm was, but how _massive_ Earth must be. There were legends of other fallen Titans back home, but the Boiling Isles was the only one known to be complete. Traveling out to the Fingers was considered a lengthy trip, but this?

“Am I missing something? Luz this is amazing, but you seem so… Off put. I guess it’s normal to you, huh?”

Luz bobbed her head from side to side as she considered her next words carefully. She didn’t want to dampen Amity’s excitement because from an objective standpoint human achievements _were_ impressive. She’d just never personally been able to make peace with the cost of it all.

“No, you’re right. Both that it’s amazing and normal to me, but none of this came cheap. One of our stops this evening might help show it better than I can tell it. It’s a long and complicated thing, but let’s just say humans aren’t as good at taking care of their home as witches are at taking care of the Isles.”

She could leave it at that for now. Luz knew there was a chance to sour the day if she leaned into how much it unsettled her. The stink, the trash, the forests and species that seemed to be a fair price to pay for skyscrapers. Witches saw their home as their provider, as their deity, as something to cherish and protect. The Titan’s body was an intrinsic part of their culture, and it was something she had spent a long time stewing over in her weeks spent at home.

At last they crossed the Willamette River and the 405 carried them past the southern edge of city proper. The roads tangled together like a concrete bramble, and Amity found herself wondering how Luz managed to keep track of all the lanes and signs, let alone watch out for other cars. Looking to the horizon, Amity saw green space begin to flood back into view beyond the buildings. It was like crossing an invisible border just beyond downtown, first tree's lining walkways, then walls of plants covering roadsides, until finally they drove up into ground too uneven for large buildings and the city behind them was entirely obscured.

“Nearly there. You wanna grab some coffee first? We’re going to be walking outside for a while.”

“Oh, yes please.” Amity had missed the human beverage at breakfast, surprised that Luz had chosen to forgo it but apparently this was why.

“Kitchen coffee is good, but places dedicated to the stuff make it fancy,” Luz tossed to her with a grin.

“There are whole shops just for coffee?’

Luz had to laugh. “Oh, _loads_ of ‘em.”

They stopped at a small roadside stand, barely more than a shed, but Luz swore that whenever she came here with her Mami (after she was old enough to be allowed coffee in the first place) that this one was the best. Amity left her drink choice up to Luz and although appalled at the name length of whatever she ordered, the beverage itself was _divine_. So much so that for the first time Amity found herself staring down at her hands and inhaling the sweet aromas more so than staring out the window.

When the car finally rolled to a stop she looked up, bewildered. “Are we here?”

“Yup! C’mon, we’ve got like an hour and a half before the next place opens.”

Amity rolled her eyes, knowing that Luz was enjoying subjecting her to the mystery of it all. “You realize I’m going to have to demote you from ‘Fearless Champion’ to ‘Fearless Tour Guide’ after this, right?”

“A price I’m willing to pay!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Lyrics: Rauw Alejandro & Camilo - Tattoo Remix**   
>  _Oh, she makes my mood never go down  
>  I don’t need anything else if you’re with me  
> I don’t know what to do when I’m next to you  
> Your brown eyes took possession of me  
> I’m dying for a kiss of those who are not friends  
> I realized that your smile gives me life_
> 
> Have I mentioned that Luz is _so_ glad Amity doesn't speak Spanish? She'll probably try to change that one day, but for right now it's saved her ass too many times to risk it. Sorry to leave this hanging, but this chapter was getting pretty long so the bulk of their day out is going to fall in the next update. Also Camila is 100% the mom who would adopt all of her kid's friends the instant she finds out they're not being loved/cared for properly, change my mind.
> 
> I can't say enough how much everyone's comments and kind words mean to me, and I can't believe we're 11 chapters in already. Either I need to work on being concise or this is shaping up to be a loonngg fic, so I hope you're all in for the ride! (:


	12. The Human Realm Pt. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Luz and Amity enjoy a nice ~~(date)~~ day exploring the Human Realm and commit like, the nerdiest crimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent an ungodly amount of time on Google Maps/Streetview/Earth and Wikipedia for this one. Learned some new highways. Learned a lot about trees. I feel fairly confident I could navigate downtown Portland. Man, the things fanfiction can teach you...
> 
> I've re-read this too many times to catch errors, my brain is at the point of auto-filling in the words, so if anyone spots something that needs an edit feel free to let me know! This is my longest chapter to date, so thanks to everyone for their patience.

Once Amity stepped out into early morning light, cradling the coffee between her hands, she couldn’t help but spin in a slow circle. Her head tilted back as eyes trailed up, up, up the trunks of massive conifer trees that seemed to have sprung up out of no where… Or maybe that was just her caffeine fixation talking? Who’s to say. They now stood in a mostly vacant car park, just beyond which Amity could see wooden fence rows and trails leading off every which way. Small garden beds sat alongside them, peppered occasionally with small signs and placards although they were currently much to small and far away to be legible.

Amity took a deep breath and the air smelled sharp and clean, even if the stink of traffic wasn’t entirely gone. “Where are we?”

Luz beamed. “May I present to you,” she raised her arms, spinning in a slow circle of her own, “The Hoyt Arboretum. This whole ridge has been preserved for a really long time.”

The witch let her take her by the hand and lead her onto the trails.

“There are miles and miles of trails. Apart from being a cool place to spend time outside they also conserve endangered species of plants too. I thought we’d start off with a little taste of human nature, instead of just human cities.”

Luz pulled them to a stop at one of the first plant beds, satisfaction seeping through her as Amity knelt to gently rub her fingers across the leaflets and stems of a deer fern while admiring the flowers growing nearby. “You’ll tell me if any of these bite, right?” She looked up to the human with a half-cocked smile.

Between laughter Luz assured her that plants here on Earth weren’t quite as deadly as those back on the Isles. Some could irritate the skin, and sure there were carnivorous plants, but Luz felt fairly certain neither of them would be mistaken for an ant or a fly. As they walked Luz pointed out different plants from all over the world, and did her best to describe the climate and culture and any other aspects of that region she could think of. Amity soaked up as much as she could, but even so it wasn’t long before her head started to spin again.

“See, this is ‘Part One’ of my plan,” Luz whispered conspiratorially as they wound their way deeper into the woods, stopping every now and then for Amity to get a closer look at this or that, and to discard their coffee cups once empty.

“Oh is it now? Do tell.”

“Well I was thinking, we have limited time so how do I show you as much of the human realm as possible in just one day? Like the internet’s one thing, but in person when we actually have a car to get around with.” Luz grabbed Amity’s hand once again and pulled them a few feet off the trail after checking to make sure no one could see and scold them for it. They came to a stop in front of a few tall trees, conifers much the same as many others so Amity was surprised to see Luz staring up at them like they were old friends.

The human carried on, “The seeds from these trees came all the way from China, on the other side of the world where they grow natively. They’re called Dawn Redwoods, and these were always my favorites.”

Amity wasn’t sure she understood the purpose of having a favorite tree, but knowing Luz she was about to change her mind. Luz looked over to check that she was following and the witch smiled, nodding for her to keep going.

“There are a few species here in Oregon too, but more down in California. The American redwoods and sequoias grow to _massive_ sizes, some so big you could drive a car through their trunks. So tall that there are whole ecosystems in their branches. Like, I’m pretty sure theres a species of salamander that spends its entire life up in the canopy. The oldest ones have been growing for thousands of years, so they’ve been around through all of modern human history just minding their business.”

Amity was surprised to find that along with awe and appreciation there was melancholy mixed in too, reminiscent of how Luz had sounded on their approach into the city. It had never been a secret that Luz was fascinated with the wilderness of the Boiling Isles, but Amity had more or less chalked that up to having a wild witch as her mentor, or just the strangeness of it all. Hearing her now, it began to seem like perhaps those roots ran deeper.

Luz sighed. “Then when the loggers came, everything changed. Now-a-days there’s only something like five percent of them left, I think? We drove down to see them in a national park once when I was a little kid, and it was _amazing_ , but even back then I remember wishing more than anything that I could have seen what the forests used to look like before they were cleared.”

Luz’s eyes were glued on the trees in front of them, but Amity still gave her hand a gentle squeeze as if it were any sort of reassurance. “Is that why these are your favorites? They remind you of that?”

Luz quirked her head. “Yes, and no. These are the smallest species of redwood, so I guess I sort of view them as the underdog of the group. They grow quick and they’ll never get as big, but every time I see them I’m reminded that the reason they're even here in the first place is because of people working really hard all over the world to preserve and save what’s left. I’d rather think about that than what’s been lost, ya know?”

Amity watched as she stepped forward, only to gently run her free hand along the rough, streaky bark. Even if it was just the wind, Amity liked to think that the way the branches rustled above them was maybe something like a thank you.

The pair made their way back to the trail and continued on. Amity found herself torn between trying to take in as much of their surroundings as she could and trying to piece together her feelings about what she had just learned. In part about the destructive nature of human society, but mostly about Luz. It was almost as if being back in this realm changed something about her, like the weight of her memories and experiences took a toll just by virtue of being present.

The witch has seen flashes of it before of course, both in her visit now and in the way Luz would often collapse with relief during weekends spent on the Isles in the previous years. Assumptions that Amity had made about the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ of all that were starting to seem… maybe a bit shallow, or at least far too simplistic. _Obviously_ Luz was just glad to be back where she could use magic again, see her friends again, experience the strange new world of the Isles again, right?.. Amity frowned.

“What’s up?” Luz asked, having caught sight of it, and then promptly kicked herself. “Oh jeez, I’m sorry. I don’t want to be a downer or anything.” She gave Amity’s hand what she hoped was a reassuring squeeze of her own. “I’ll keep the depressing speeches to a minimum from now on, promise.”

Amity shook her head, because it sounded like Luz wanted to say more along that line of thought and that was the last thing she wanted. “No, that’s not it. I always want to know what you’re thinking so please don’t. I was thinking that _I_ should apologize, actually.”

Luz stopped short, brows furrowed, tugging Amity with her seeing as she still hadn’t dropped her hand. “What? Why?”

Amity shrugged, and chose to look out over the gardens instead of at Luz, as if that would make things easier. “I guess… I’m just realizing how little I ever bothered to ask about what it’s like here. And seeing it now, how there’s so much both good and bad, and how much it means to you? I really should have.”

“Hey, don’t worry about that. It’s not like I- Oop.” Luz pulled them to the side of the trail to let another pair of hikers pass them by, and with that reminder that they were very much still in public, craned her neck to look up and down the trail before continuing in a lower voice. “It’s not like I’ve ever been shy about how much I love the Isles. I don’t know how you’re to blame if that’s all I ever wanted to talk about, especially if part of the reason was that I _didn’t_ want to think about all the things on Earth that bum me out.”

Amity squeezed her hand tighter. “But even that bad stuff is important to you, and I don’t want you to think you have to avoid it for the sake of _my_ feelings. We’ve gotten pretty good at being sad and angry around each other, I can take it.” She turned back to flash Luz a wry, maybe-a-smidge-depricating smile.

Luz smiled back through a sigh, looking down at her feet for a second before pulling Amity into a quick hug. “Yeah, maybe you have a point.”

“I’ll never expect you to talk about anything you don’t want to,” Amity’s words muffled against Luz’s shoulder until they pulled away. “But if you just assume I don’t want to hear about it or don’t care, I will happily rub it in your face how wrong you are.”

“Oh, it’s like _that_ , huh?”

With laughter and a much lightened mood, their walk resumed. The trail loop was just a short two miles, and by the time they arrived back at the car Amity was still brimming with questions and had half a mind to subject Luz to an eternal oath that she would show her a world map at their earliest convenience. As she slid back into the passenger seat, Luz promised her that she might get more insight even sooner than the was hoping for.

“You doubt my plan? I’m offended. Our next stop should help with that.”

“First, in my defense, your success ratio on plans is 50-50 at best-”

“Wow, _okay_!”

“Second, help how? Are we going to a cartographer or something?” Amity laughed as the human turned the key and put the car in motion.

Luz just scoffed, declaring that for her sass Amity would just have to wait and see. She’d better settle in too, because it was going to be a long drive. Amity did just that, nestling down into her seat and pulling out her scroll to flip through some of the pictures she had managed to take when they were sure no other humans could see them. Willow was going to get a kick out of it, or at least she hoped so, and idly wondered if maybe the plant witch might want to visit too one day.

She felt the car slow to a stop not even five minutes later and looked up, confused.

“Alright, hope you’re not too stiff or anything! One helluva trek, huh?” Luz was quick to unbuckle herself and sprang out of the car once again.

“Wh- Luz!” Amity scrambled after her.

Unlike the arboretum when they’d first arrived, this car park was considerably more crowded. Amity trailed after Luz, who was practically bubbling over with excitement. Up ahead she could see an entrance gate, with the words ‘Oregon Zoo’ arched proudly atop it.

“Ta da! Plan Part Two. I don’t think there are zoos on the Isles, right?”

Amity’s brows shot skyward. “Sometimes carnivals will have petting zoos. Not like this, though.”

Luz clapped her hands together, and looked for all the world like she would rather be skipping than walking. “So, this definitely isn’t a petting zoo, though there is a spot you can go to pet goats I think.”

That created more questions than answers, but Amity didn’t have the chance to inquire further as Luz stepped up to the ticket window. They were handed two admissions and a map, which Luz passed over with a wink.

“See? Map.”

“Har har,” Amity snarked, but was still quick to unfold it.

“I wanted to get here just as they opened because there’s always more enrichment stuff out at the start of the day. Also, don’t bother with that because I know exactly where we’re going first.”

The witch rolled her eyes but was more than happy to follow along. As they walked her eyes wandered from stands to outdoor cafe spaces, and finally to little bits of enclosure she could see here and there. Twice Amity slowed to get a better look at something and Luz had to return to collect her, along with reassurances that they could spend a few hours here if she wanted so there would be plenty of time to check everything out. When Amity asked why they couldn’t just go in order, Luz reasoned that she didn’t want the witch to wear out her shock and awe before the main event. Amity didn’t know if that would be possible, but Luz seemed adamant.

In the end Amity contented herself with reaching out for Luz’s hand yet again, cheeks pleasantly warm at the way their fingers intertwined without a second thought. At least this way she wouldn’t get left behind.

“I know they’re somewhere near here… Ah!” Luz towed her around the corner and up a short set of stairs, to a platform overlooking an enclosure.

“Alright, what’s so-” Her jaw dropped. At the sound of Luz’s muffled laughter she turned and found the human holding up her phone, but whether she was recording or just snapping pictures Amity wasn’t sure. Before and below them were two tall creatures, mostly made up of neck and legs, sloping backs and covered in splotches of brown.

“The look on your face is _priceless_ ,” Luz said between a few giggles that managed to escape.

Amity hissed under her breath, very aware that Luz was hardly the only one within earshot, “Humans just keep _giraffes_ as pets? They’re incredibly dangerous! They were banished _centuries_ ago.”

Luz snorted. “Yeah, what’s up with that anyways? And they’re not pets, really. Zoos are all about conservation and educating people, though I’ll admit some take better care of their animals than others.”

Amity just shook her head. “During the unrest after the Burning, rogue witches used them as battle mounts. They’re impervious to most magical attacks, not to mention they can kick clean through your skull.”

Luz just blinked… “Alright, we’re definitely going to unpack all of that later. For now though,” she led the witch over to a small shack-turned-shop at the edge of the viewing platform. “Want to feed one? It’s only ten bucks and the proceeds go back into their care. I’ll take a video if you want to show the others back home.”

It took some convincing, even after Luz volunteered to go first, but at last the witch agreed. The attendant gave them each a handful of leafy branches in exchange for the worn bills, and by the look of it Amity might as well have been hand feeding a T-Rex. Luz wasn’t sure the video she managed to take would be much use for bragging rights back home, but it was something.

As they stepped back down onto the paved paths, Luz muttered under her breath, “You can fight an emperor but feeding a giraffe is where you draw the line?”

She got an elbow to the ribs for her trouble.

From there on out the pair spent at least a few minutes in front of every enclosure they passed by. Amity forced Luz to pass over her phone so she could get a video of her own at the otter enclosure, featuring Luz gushing and baby-talking its inhabitants. She also seemed to know most by name, and explained that any time a new otter had been born or arrived at the zoo they announced it on social media, and how she had all but forced her mother to bring her by for a visit. Amity had to admit, the onesie made a _lot_ more sense now that she could see how cute the actual animal was in person.

As the hours crept towards noon both stomachs began to rumble, so Luz pulled them into an African themed cafe. The food wasn’t half bad though it didn’t hold a candle to the Noceda’s home cooking. They claimed a table overlooking the enclosure of some strange, squat animal Luz called a Rhinoceros. It certainly improved the experience.

Their last stop was the gift shop, where Luz told her she could pick out something to take back to the Isles if she wanted. Amity considered several of the books on human wildlife and conservation, but in the end couldn’t fight the draw to a wall of stuffed plushies in the back. Luz positively _beamed_ at that, which brought an embarrassed flush to her cheeks.

“What?” She mumbled. “They’re cute.”

“I never thought I'd see the day you choose a stuffed animal over a book, that’s all.”

Amity sniffed. “Well you can tell me more than I’d get in one book, but you’re not a stuffed animal, are you?”

Luz feigned an offended scoff. “Are you saying I’m not cute and cuddly enough for you? That hurts, Ams.”

As her blush darkened, _Damn this pale complexion,_ Amity leaned in to examine the wall more closely. Resorting back to mumbling, she hedged, “I never said that.”

In the end, Amity chose an otter and Luz picked out a red panda for herself. When Amity asked for her reasoning all she got was a shrug, twinkling eyes and, “Oh, no reason.”

\- - - - - - - - - -

Portland State University was situated on the southern side of downtown proper, so it was once again only a short journey to their next destination. Luz parked the car at the nearest meter she could find and took her time fetching an empty backpack from the trunk, giving Amity the opportunity to take in the buildings around her. The campus’ buildings were still large by Boiling Isles standards, but nothing compared to the skyscrapers visible just beyond which seemed to have captured the majority of the witch’s attention.

Sneaking into the university's library proved to be a lot easier than Luz expected. Using magic on Earth drained witches faster than it did back on the Isles given the lack of the Titan’s presence, but not so drastically that Amity couldn’t put a quick glamour over the two of them. It wasn’t as complex as full invisibility, and as they waltzed past security checking for school I.Ds the eyes of the nearby humans simply glanced over them. She dropped the glamour once they were among the shelves, sweat beading across her brow and a bit winded but smiling all the same.

“You’ve gotten a lot better with illusion spells lately,” Luz observed quietly, leading them to a map that laid out which parts of the dewey decimal system were on which floor.

Amity replied just as quietly. “Thanks. I’ve been working with the twins.”

The witch was _very_ distracted as Luz led her up two flights of stairs. This library was a world away from Bonesboro’s, literally and figuratively. One wall of each floor was made up entirely of glass, curving inwards. The natural lighting was a nice departure from the glow runes and candles she was accustomed to. Opposite the glass wall, the shelves extended deep into the building and seemed to go on forever. She passed signs reading History and Geography, Arts and Recreation, and was particularly interested in Technology. She almost asked Luz if they could stop and look at a few, but she knew that was a distraction she didn’t need right now. They were here for a purpose, after all.

Luz seemed to notice how her eyes were wandering every which way and laughed. “Don’t worry, we can come back whenever you want. There are public libraries too, we wouldn’t even need to sneak in.”

The notion of frequent trips to the Human realm was exciting to say the least, but that led to more pressing questions. “Why’d we come to this one, then?”

“Well, universities are places of advanced learning, not required schooling. People go to college to study certain topics more extensively, so they sometimes need really specific books that you won’t find in a public library. I’m surprised the Isles doesn’t have a form of college, actually.”

“That’s what the old coven system was for,” Amity shrugged. “You’d pick a specialty within your chosen branch and try to get taken on as someone’s apprentice.”

Luz hummed. That made sense, but she wondered what that meant now that witches were free to pursue magic in a new way, without the strict delineation of specialty. Food for thought, but for another time.

Given that summer was just beginning, the building was far from crowded. Portland State offered summer courses but like most schools they served mainly the over- and underachievers. Recent high school graduates bent over tables with books and papers strewn about, trying to get a jump on 101 courses before the fall semester began while haggard superseniors slouched in armchairs trying to pick up the credits they’d missed. Even then, there was plenty of space for the two to wander undisturbed.

The shelves devoted to languages were extensive, but the section on archaic and proto-languages was less so. Best as Luz could figure, the symbols she had recognized had come from northern European languages with a bit of Greek smattered in too. How and why that was the case was beyond her, and she set that thinking aside as a problem for ‘Future Luz.’ Despite being bilingual herself language wasn't something she considered her forté, at least historically speaking. So, thinking it was better to be safe than sorry, she plopped the empty backpack down onto the carpet and the pile started to grow.

Amity was instructed to find anything with the words ‘Italic,’ ‘Germanic,’ or ‘Hellenic’ written on the spines while Luz did the same, along with looking specifically for books on how language had developed and changed over time and phonetics in general. In the end they had more books than they could reasonably fit in the bag, so some weeding out would have to be done. Partway through Amity hummed, drawing her attention.

“So, question.” Amity flipped through the pages of the book in her hand, before deeming it suitable and setting it down in the ‘Keep’ pile.

“Alright, possible answer?”

“You always talk about how the internet has _everything_. Why do humans need so many books? We couldn’t find what we’re looking for online?”

Luz scratched at the back of her neck. “Well, for one thing it’s good to have physical copies of things. If all this information was online instead of on the shelves and the power went out, this building would be useless.”

“Ah. That makes sense.” Amity still wasn’t used to the notion of non-magic power sources. The human way seemed terribly inconvenient but she supposed that’s what they got for not having a bile sac.

“As for the second question we probably _could_ find it online, but remember how I said college was optional? It’s also _really_ freaking expensive. When you go to one of these schools you get free access to things published digitally and scans of old books and whatever, but since I’m not enrolled I’d have to pay for access for anything really niche. Maybe Eda’s rubbing off on me, but ‘borrowing’ these books is free.”

Amity’s brows furrowed. “That’s stupid, though. What use is there in keeping knowledge away from people?”

Luz shrugged, and busied herself back with flipped through pages. “It’s very stupid, but it’s profitable. Besides, if you can’t afford to educate yourself odds are good you never learn that you deserve better.”

Her tone had taken on that sour tinge again, the way she had spoken of the city sprawl and the fallen trees. Amity didn’t need to be a mind reader to realize this was another one of the human things that left a bad taste in Luz’s mouth so she didn’t press any further, but couldn’t help frowning down at the next book as more questions swirled around in her mind. Maybe it was something she could ask Camila about before they returned to the Isles.

Eventually, after some minor berating of herself for not thinking to bring a second backpack for Amity, Luz decided that what they had was as good as they were going to get on this trip. Duplicating the books would have to wait until they were back home lest Amity completely exhaust herself, but she did have every intention of returning what they’d taken. Ya know… _eventually_. Heaving the pack up onto her shoulders made her glad she’d decided to pay the meter outside instead of parking in a garage two blocks away, and sneaking out wound up being even easier than sneaking in.

Settling back in the car, Luz checked the time on her phone and drummed her fingers on the wheel, chewing on her lip as she thought.

Amity eyed her. “I know that look. That’s your ‘Plotting’ look.”

Luz laughed, seeming delighted by the observation. “I have a plotting look?”

“I don’t know, are you currently plotting something?”

“I am… considering our options.”

“I rest my case.”

Luz waved her off. “Whatever. So, listen. Would you rather go to a museum and spend time tonight starting to go over the books, or are you up for a longer drive?” Amity raised a brow, making Luz huff. “I mean it this time, it’d be about an hour and a half one way so we’d get back kind of late.”

“And what’s at the end of this long drive?”

Luz just grinned. “Something pretty.”

Amity rolled her eyes but couldn’t help smiling back. She reached into the back seat to grab her newly acquired otter, tucked it under her arm and made a show of getting comfortable in her seat while she materialized her scroll. “Something pretty sounds good to me.”

Luz let out a little whoop of victory and put the car in drive.

As soon as she made it back onto the main roads, Luz directed Amity towards the aux cable trapped somewhere between the seat and the center console. She handed over her phone with her music app opened to the playlists page and told the witch to go nuts. Luz’s taste in music was just as eclectic as one might expect, and she shamelessly enjoyed everything from top charts pop music to Icelandic folk songs because in her words, just because she didn’t understand the language didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate the vibe. Once Amity found a few playlists of solely Spanish songs, the witch found that to be a sentiment that she could agree with.

It definitely helped that Luz wasn’t afraid to sing along to her favorites.

The landscape around them eventually melted from city to farm fields to forest. As they wound their way over and around the hills Amity propped her arm against the window and laid her head in her hand, staring up at the tree tops. The late afternoon light was just beginning to warm into gold, and as tree-scattered splotches of light fell through the window Luz was maybe-sort-of regretting handing over her phone... She _really_ wanted to use her camera just then. Instead she settled on stealing quick glances as often as she could from the corner of her eyes.

Although the drive was long, the time seemed to fly by. Most of it passed in comfortable silence, save for the music and Luz’s occasional singing. Every once in a while Amity would ask about a certain sign or sight beyond her window, which Luz answered to the best of her ability. For the most part she seemed content to just take in the view now that they had left the city proper, which resulted in Luz growing more and more eager with every passing mile taking them north and west.

“Alright, we’re almost there,” she announced, changing from the Sunset Highway to the Oregon Coast instead.

Amity perked up, head swiveling as she tried to figure out what ‘there’ even was. Everything looked more or less the same as it had for the past hour and change. Same tall trees, same rolling hills. Above the break in the forest that the road provided she could see distant mountains which were certainly pretty, but not enough that she would expect them to warrant such a trip. So why was Luz smiling like that?

As the car rounded the final bend that would lead them down into town, the trees and the hills dropped away to reveal the shimmering silver line of the ocean's horizon.

Luz drove them around the outskirts of the town to a small car lot and parked. The town itself, which Luz named Cannon Beach, seemed to be a size Amity was much more accustomed to. It stretched down along the coast, hosting shops and restaurants and inns and other buildings made mostly of wood or stone, none more than two stories high. Flower baskets, banners and strings of lights hung from their eaves and awnings. The air was rich with the scent of wood smoke and sea salt. Luz grabbed her hand without a second thought and led her down the main street, into the mix of tourists and locals.

Families sat at tables, enjoying the late afternoon air as they shared a meal together while children ran past on the sidewalk, clutching ice cream cones and laughing. A woman stood behind a small stall selling flowers and hand carved wooden trinkets, and beside her a man had set up an outdoor grill, handing out skewers of meats and vegetables and even fruit to his line of customers. What little traffic there was ambled slowly down the road, and somewhere nearby the sound of a guitar and violin drifted through the air.

Luz swung the hand that held hers into her hip. “So? What do you think so far?”

She smiled. “This is the first thing I’ve seen that almost reminds me of home.”

“Right? We came here a lot during summer vacation when I was a kid. It’s a lot less lively in the off season, but it’s perfect right now.”

Amity hummed. Perfect seemed a good word for it.

“So I thought maybe we could grab some towels from one of the shops, maybe dinner if you’re hungry again yet, and head over to the beach? Not to brag or anything, but Lake Lacuna wishes it was as awesome.”

The witch grinned. “Bold words, Noceda. That sounds nice.” She leaned over to bump Luz’s shoulder with her own. “I feel bad that you’re spending so much money, though. I’ll have to treat you to something nice when we get back to the Isles.”

Luz shook her head, “Don’t worry about it. It’s not really my money anyways.”

“So do I need to get your mom a nice gift for the next time I’m here, then?”

That got a laugh out of her, but still Luz shook her head. She cast a furtive look around them and dropped her voice, explaining, “Also no, but I’m sure she’d appreciate it if you did that anyways.” _Hmm. Noted_. “Every now and then Owlbert nabs a wallet or two on his trash runs. Eda’s been saving whatever’s inside for me.”

“Ah. I should have guessed.”

Luz’s continued laughter carried them into a small convenience store, which this time of year was really more like a gift shop. She grabbed two towels and some cheap flip-flops, a bottle of water each, some sunscreen for Amity and a frisbee on a whim. At the register she paid extra to opt for a tote bag instead of paper, and shoved everything inside. Back on the sidewalk, Amity’s nose led them to a food truck selling a variety of rice and noodle bowls which both found themselves excited to try. The line moved quick, so food in hand they traded out their shoes and socks for sandals and made for the expanse of the beach.

The transition from land to sea was a gentle one, beginning at first with yards and yards of soft white sand. Currently the tide was on its evening retreat, and just beyond lay a broad swath of freshly exposed sand still saturated enough to reflect back the puffy clouds in the sky above. Dogs and children ran amuck, splashing through its puddles while parents laid towels out on the barrier between wet and dry. Both up and down the coast, tall spires of earth and stone towered above the waves, a perfect roost for the seabirds swirling around them.

For the sake of speaking freely, Luz led them down and away from the crowd. The sand was peppered with towels and families and couples all the way along the coast, but the farther they moved from the main town hub the quieter it became. After trying Luz’s chicken coconut curry bowl Amity insisted that they share both, proclaiming her own lo mein tasty enough but also one step shy of demanding an eternal oath from Luz, swearing she would find a way to replicate whatever this curry stuff was back in the Isles.

In the end Luz just surrendered her bowl and swapped for Amity’s, in between bites trying her best to explain the cultural variations of food around the globe and making a mental note to find an international market for them to explore some time in the future. Once they were done eating Luz spent time teaching Amity the proper way to throw a frisbee which she was more or less successful at, and they tossed it back and forth until Luz tried to remember some trick shots one of her uncles had shown her as a kid. That ended about as quickly as it began, with the addition of a brand new lump on the side of her head.

Amity led her back to the towels laid side by side just as the sun’s leading edge kissed the horizon.

There was a brief moment of awkward tension in the air, both quietly wanting to be closer to the other, but neither wanting to assume or move first. Eventually it was Luz’s will that broke and she wrapped an arm around Amity’s shoulder, pulling her into her side. She couldn’t help the small smile or the subtle heat in her cheeks either when she heard the quiet breath Amity let out. As the witch relaxed relaxed against her Luz began to run her hand softly up and down her arm.

“So, did you have fun today? Was my plan a success?”

Amity smiled up at her before leaning her head back against the human’s shoulder. “I think you know the answer to that.”

“But it’s more emotionally validating to hear it, duh.”

Amity’s laugh was more of a huff, and even if Luz couldn’t see it she _felt_ her rolling her eyes in her heart. “Yes, Luz, I had a lot of fun and your plan was a complete success.”

“Even this bit of improv at the end?”

Amity hummed as the day came rushing back to her. Luz dancing in the kitchen, her singing then and in the car too, her thoughts about the trees and a red panda plush that she had a sneaking meant the same to Luz as her otter plush meant to her... With a dash of casual theft of university property for the sake of Amity’s job sprinkled on top.

Gratitude, boldness and impulsivity swirled together and convinced Amity to tip her head back and press a soft kiss against Luz's cheek, perhaps just a _bit_ closer to the corner of her mouth than it had any real reason to be.

“ _Especially_ this bit of improv at the end.”

They sat and watched the sky bloom into a hundred different hues, painting the rippling waves beneath, until the first stars began winking into existence above.

\- - - - - - - - - -

Camila was still awake when she heard the garage door rumble open just before the clock hit eleven later that night, and the hushed murmurs of conversation that followed once the girls made their way inside. The house was dark save for the kitchen light lit above the table she sat at, and she looked up from the day’s newspaper just in time to see Luz half-guiding, half-supporting a half-asleep Amity towards the stairs. Assuming she had yet to be noticed, Camila watched with interest and felt a familiar warmth bloom in her chest.

One of Amity’s hands was fisted in the front of her daughter’s shirt, head on her shoulder while Luz supported her with an arm around her waist while the other held a tote bag she couldn’t remember seeing before.

“You _really_ need me to carry you?” Luz whispered.

The witch mumbled back, “I hate stairs.”

“No, you just like being carried.”

“Hmpf.”

Camila chose that moment to take a long drink from her mug of tea, and enjoyed a mother’s quiet delight at the way Luz’s head snapped towards her, eyes wide and blushing in a way not even her tan complexion could hide. Wordlessly, Camila gestured for her to carry on.

Luz sighed, setting the tote down at the base of the stairs. “Alright, lazybones. Up we go.” She dipped and scooped her free arm behind Amity’s legs, picking her up bridal style and the two disappeared up into the gloom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Amity _absolutely_ has a Thing™ for being carried, prove me wrong.  
> 2\. I really want to go visit Portland now. Specifically Cannon Beach. Seriously, go look it up. Tell me you don't have travel envy and I'll call you a liar.  
> 3\. Camila is living her best life. Tune in next time for A Talk about Luz, Amity, emotional dependency and more!
> 
> Last chapter was the most comment threads I've gotten on this before and I seriously want to hug everyone who's still reading this right through my screen but I don't think my warranty would cover the damage. Digital forehead kisses for everyone. 🥰


	13. The Human Realm Pt. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Camila calls Luz out and the pair start to realize there might be more to those old books than meets the eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hot dang, folks, we're back! I hope everyone enjoyed last chapter's fluff because we're heading back into the thick of it. Socially distanced air high fives to everyone who's made it this far and/or is still reading (: Enjoy!

Luz debated leaving the bag for tomorrow morning. There was nothing inside that she needed, and even if Camila had raised her not to leave things laying about in their shared space, she was pretty sure playing it off as being exhausted would get her by for at least one night. She could just creep down the hall to change and brush her teeth, creep back, and then use Amity as a shield between herself and that knowing look in her mother’s eyes until they left on Monday. It was the perfect plan.

Or at least it would have been, if being bone weary didn’t revert the brightest which on the Boiling Isles back into a toddler.

Amity had passed out in the passenger seat halfway through their return journey, and waking her up enough to just get inside had been a task all its own. The last week had given Luz new insight into plenty of things, not least of which being that Amity’s reputation as an early riser and light sleeper seemed more to do with anxiety and iron will than anything else. Even after sitting Amity down on the edge of the bed she gauged her to be half-conscious at best, and Luz’s suggestion that she change into sleep clothes was answered with a yawn and the witch mindlessly reaching for the hem of her dress.

So, yeah.

Luz bolted.

Without any pajamas of her own or even just her toiletries it made sneaking into the bathroom to get ready herself (and avoiding her mother as a happy coincidence,) much more difficult. Luz slumped against the wall beside her door, took a deep breath, and resigned herself to whatever fate awaited her. It wouldn’t be the first time, but even Luz had to admit this incident was particularly incriminating. She felt a phantom warmth on her cheek leftover from hours before, and a very real warmth in both cheeks soon after.

After her first summer Luz had happily weathered the comments about what good friends she had made, at least after the whole ‘Hi Mom, didn’t go to camp, _Demon Realm_ actually,’ business was cleared up. Questions about Gus and Willow and the other dualtrack witches. As the years wound on she got used to the questions steadily honing in on Amity in particular, and at first Luz had no idea why. ‘ _What was Amity doing_ ,’ ‘ _Ah, and what did Amity say?_ ’ and ‘ _How are her siblings? How are her classes going?_ ’ Luz could always answer at length and happily did so, but it was still _weird_.

When push came to shove and she actually worked up the courage to call her mother out on the fixation, Camila laughed so hard she had to fetch a glass of water before answering. ‘ _I could ask you the same thing, mija_. _You talk about her so often, I’m just curious._ ’

No matter how many times Luz insisted that they were just friends, _just friends_ , it never seemed to sate her. Camila never teased in that heavy-handed way Eda was known for, but the sly comments and all-knowing looks were their own sort of overwhelming. Especially because it made it much harder for Luz to keep that little box labeled ‘Feelings About Amity’ buried in the back of her mind where it belonged, where it couldn’t cause her any problems or heartache. Luz couldn’t count the number of times she had told _herself_ that they were just friends, or that they were just _really good_ friends and everyone else was making a big deal out of nothing, or even in her most desperate hours that it was no use pining after a rich witch with a bright future currently living on an entirely different plane of the universe.

Now? … Luz wasn’t sure where they stood now. All she really knew was that lately the box in the back of her mind had been rattling around more than usual, and everyone in her life from her mentor to her friends and now her own mother seemed insistent on poking at it. For a brief moment she considered laying down right there and sleeping in the hallway. She certainly didn’t remember commanding her feet back towards the stairs, let alone down them, but she soon found herself returned to the main floor regardless.

Her mother was still just as she had been a few moments ago, sipping from her mug and flipping from one page of the newspaper to the next. Maybe she would be able to get away with a whispered ‘Good Night’ if she was quick enough, but just as Luz bent down to reach for the bag’s handles Camila stuck out a foot. The sound of chair legs scraping against tile broke through the peaceful hush like a gun shot and Luz looked up to find the chair next to her mother’s turned and open, an odd mix between invitation and a maternal order for obedience.

Luz buried her hands into the pocket of her hoodie, for no reason other than to keep her shoulders from scrunching up to her ears, and crossed the room to sit.

“I’m glad you got back safely, _mija_. Would you like some tea?” The older woman readjusted her glasses, eyes skimming the article in front of her.

“Thank you _Mami_ , but no. I’m worn out enough as it is.”

Camila hummed, and Luz’s foot began to bounce below her chair. “I’ll bet. Did you two have fun today?”

Despite her apprehension about where this conversation was heading, Luz couldn’t help the small smile the bloomed across her face. ‘Fun’ seemed too weak a word for what might have been the best day of her life, contending only with discovering the Boiling Isles in the first place and her graduation day. Not that finishing High School was all that special, but because of what that accomplishment _really_ meant. She made a mental note to maybe get her hands on a disposable camera, or a polaroid maybe, for the next time Amity visited. Digital photos were nice and all, but she wouldn’t have minded some more tangible memories to hang up in her room at the Owl House. Luz’s thoughts began to wander down that road and her smile grew, but neither got very far before a scoff yanked her back into reality.

“I suppose I’ll take that as a yes.” Although Camila had kept her head trained towards the paper, her words polite and without overt implication, the fact that she was now staring up at Luz from beneath her lashes and had clearly been watching _that_ particular face journey was enough to have Luz slumping back in her chair and crossing her arms.

“Yes, we had a good day. Why are you looking at me like that?” She was getting too old for petulance, but it sometimes worked with Eda and she didn’t really have a leg to stand on here so… Might as well add a pout on top of it.

Camila hummed. “I’m not looking at you like anything, _cariño_.”

“Are too.”

“Alright, then.” To Luz’s growing horror she watched as her mother gently closed the newspaper, folded it, and made a show of setting it to the side. She folded her hands delicately around the mug and turned to face her entirely. “Is this better?”

“… Nope, not really.”

The older woman rolled her eyes. “ _Mija_ , I just want to talk. I’m your mother, I want to know about these things.” The unsaid left hovering between them might have left room for doubt, surely a witch’s first time in the human realm would come along with plenty of stories to be told afterwards, but Luz wasn’t fooled.

Luz looked down at her lap, scuffing the toe of her shoe against the floor. “There’s nothing _to_ know, _Mami_. Honest.”

“Is that so?”

“It is.”

“If there’s nothing to know, why do I feel like I’ve learned several new things this weekend?”

Luz crossed her arms all the tighter across her middle. “Like what?”

“Hm. Remind me how Amity made her way up the stairs?”

Luz groaned, softly so as not to wake what she could only hope was their fast-asleep guest, but with feeling. Camila chuckled and set her mug aside.

“I’m not trying to embarrass you, _mija_. I just wonder…” She trailed off, trying to pick her words carefully. It culminated in a sigh, and then, “I just want to make sure you’re taking care of yourself.”

Luz squinted, brows furrowing as she fought to make sense of the twist their conversation seemed to be taking. Taking care of herself in general, or with Amity? In either case she couldn’t begin to guess what would be making her mother worry, but there was a look in the older woman’s eyes and a sad cast to her smile. Even in her confusion Luz wondered how long this had been on her mind, whatever _this_ even was. Eventually she settled on one last attempt to brush it aside, hoping against hope she could put the conversation off just a bit longer.

“Don’t worry, Lilith makes sure I eat my vegetables. She even waters down Eda’s fermented apple blood every now and again.” _Nailed it._

Camila leveled her with a dry stare. “You are not too old for me to roll up this paper and swat you with it, young lady.” _Alright, maybe not._

Luz laughed down into her lap. “I know.”

Camila liked to think she knew her daughter fairly well. After Luz’s first summer on the Isles, it had been a long road and plenty of hard work in repairing their relationship, making sure Luz knew that she loved her no matter what and would never try to change who she was. It had been hard at first to wrap her mind around how spending time in the _Demon Realm_ could possibly have been good for her daughter, but the results were impossible to deny.

With her urges for magic and adventure sated, classroom disruptions largely ceased even if calls from the principal did not. Luz came back to her the same eager, joyful, exuberant child but with a new sense of confidence and _justice_. Always ready with a kind word or a compliment, and never backing down from defending someone who needed it. The fact that it resulted in her daughter getting into _fights_ in the hallways was an unexpected consequence. Camila did what she could to put an end to that, although she suspected in the end that Luz just learned how to be sneaky about her ‘quests for righteousness’ instead.

Nothing would stop her from trying to make the world a better place, one bully at a time. One compliment to a downtrodden classmate at a time, one school fundraiser at a time, even if Camila knew that Luz had never really made any true human friends. So much for others, but rarely did she ever see her daughter do anything for _herself_. What _she_ felt and wanted so rarely seemed to cross her mind, or if it did was simply pushed aside.

“Tell me how you feel about her,” she said, tone easy and quiet. “Help me understand why you two circle one another like the earth and the moon yet insist it’s nothing a mother might want to know about.”

Luz ran a hand through her messy hair, before dragging it down over her face. “I don’t know if I can, Mom. It’s… a lot to think about.”

“But it’s easy in the act, hmm?” Camila smiled as she saw the edges of Luz’s lips tug upwards, ever so slightly.

“Yeah, I guess. That doesn’t mean I want to get all wrapped up in my head about things, though. We’re just… us. It doesn’t need to be anything more than that.”

“And you don’t _want_ it to be more?”

Luz let her breath out slowly, eventually slumping forward to fold her arms atop the table and bury her face in the hollow they provided. Maybe it would feel good to get this recently worsening weight off her chest, but then again maybe that was just the box rattling around again. It had been doing that a lot lately. Either way, she definitely didn’t want to have to look her mother in the eyes right now.

She started slow.

“We’ve been through a _lot_ together, you know? And coming to terms with everything that happened in the war… I don’t think I could do it without her. I know how I feel about her but the risk of losing what we have now? It isn’t worth it. Not when we’re both happy as is.” Even with her arms folded atop the table, head still buried, Luz flared her fingers upwards in a bout of exasperation. “I don’t know. Things are sort of perfect right now, and I _just_ moved back. It feels selfish to want anything more than that.” _Besides_ _,_ _I’m too good at fucking things up to risk it._

Camila’s heart squeezed inside her chest. “And this is what Amity wants, too?”

Luz shrugged, barely more than a twitch. “It’s not like we’ve talked about it or anything.”

Her mother hummed, taking a moment to think as she reached for her mug once again and took a long sip of the rapidly cooling tea. “You know,” she began slowly, setting it down and fiddling her fingers along the handle. “I think she was half convinced you would decide to stay in the human realm.” Camila found herself chuckling at the memory.

Luz’s head popped up from the nest her arms had become, incredulity spread across her face. “ _Really_?”

“Really,” she nodded, smile growing wider. “Nervous as could be, right until the end of your speech at the party. She also mentioned that you two hadn’t talked about your decision and thought you had been avoiding the topic.”

Luz was baffled. Every time she had tried to talk about the future, Amity had clammed up. Luz figured there was probably a lot of stuff going on with her family, and in her mind there had never been any question about where she would end up, _obviously_ Amity would know that. So she’d never really brought it up, but to know that Amity took it as deliberate avoidance? Camila took her stunned silence as an opportunity to go on.

“Well, I told her that sometimes your mind moves at a different speed than most. You assumed she had arrived at the same conclusion and moved on, I’m sure.” Luz nodded, mouth still slightly ajar. “I do wonder though, how many times she worried herself to pieces about it.”

“She could have just _asked_ me, though!”

Camila’s gaze bore into hers, firmer than before even if her speech remained gentle. “Could she? Perhaps she was just as afraid then as you are now. Both operating off of an entirely different page, terrified of the answer and what comes after. Or maybe that’s just an old woman looking too far into things.” She shrugged, drained what was left in her mug and stood. “All I know is a little communication can go a long way.”

Luz sat there in silence, casting her memory back through the previous weeks. Luz was well-practiced in the art of shoving down inconvenient thoughts and feelings, but when she _did_ allow herself to actually consider them it was no secret that Amity was one of the most important people in her life. She couldn’t imagine what life would look like without her in it, and as far as Luz was concerned preserving what they had was more important than anything else.

Still, her mother’s words were now echoing in her mind over and over. Luz wasn’t sure if she was ready to confront her own assumptions and the idea of talking with Amity about _all of that_ was beyond terrifying, but the thought that she might be unintentionally hurting the witch wasn’t easy to stomach either.

So what the hell was she supposed to do?

Luz ended up sitting there frowning down into her lap long enough for Camila to rinse her mug and set it aside to dry. Not willing to miss an opportunity for more time with her daughter, the older woman returned to her chair with a brighter smile.

“Now, tell me what the two of you got up to today.”

Luz did what she does best and pushed her thoughts aside, back into the box where they belonged… at least for now.

She showed her mother the numerous pictures she had taken, most without Amity’s notice, and both laughed over the videos from the zoo. The notion that giraffes had once come from the Boiling Isles was new to Camila, but she just filed it away as one more thing that made having Luz as her daughter an experience unlike any other. Luz divulged that while originally she had intended to take Amity to OMSI, seeing as she knew the witch was interested in human technologies and advancements, they had ended up at the beach instead. Details on _that_ part of their day were noticeably sparse, and she pretended that her mother wouldn’t notice the warmth in her cheeks for her own peace of mind.

She was just wrapping up when one of the stairs squeaked, causing both women to turn and look over their shoulders.

“Luz?”

Amity emerged from the gloom of the stair well, propping her hip against the wall and rubbing the heel of her palm across one eye. She’d walked down just far enough to catch sight of the human, clad in an oversized shirt so large the bottom edge of her shorts could only just be seen.

“Everything okay?”

Luz lit up with a smile. “Yeah Ams, just saying goodnight to _Mami_. I’ll be up in a sec.”

The witch yawned. “Mkay. G’night Ms. Noceda.”

“Good night, dear.” They watched her retreat and waited a moment before Camila turned back to her daughter, her gaze warm and not quite an I-told-you-so but… close. “I guess that’s your cue.”

Luz flushed, but her smile remained. “I guess so.”

They exchanged a quick ‘Good Night’ of their own and a hug, and by the time Luz was changed and crawling into bed herself Amity was already drifting back to sleep. A small flutter of nerves twisted in her stomach. _Ha_ _s_ _she been awake all this time?_

She pulled the covers back and slid beneath. “Hey, sorry. Did we wake you up?”

Amity mumbled a bit, fighting against exhaustion and rolled towards her, snaking an arm across her midriff. Luz’s heart leapt into her throat even as she pulled the witch closer. “No, was jus’ cold.” Luz smiled as Amity tucked her face into the crook of her neck and let out a contented sigh.

“Better now?”

“Better.”

With thoughts of her mother’s conversation still swirling in her mind Luz took longer than usual to find sleep, though Amity seemed to have no similar trouble. Luz wasn’t sure how long she lay there carding her fingers through long, auburn hair. She let herself enjoy the feeling of hot puffs of breath against her neck, the slow rise and fall of Amity’s chest pressing into her ribs. When Luz dared to hold her a bit tighter, even in the depths of sleep Amity mindlessly shifted to tangle their legs together. Luz thought her heart might burst, and the warmth that bubbled up in her chest should have been enough to catch fire.

Eventually sleep crept up to claim her as well, and the last thought that crossed her mind was that she hadn’t even remembered to grab the _damn_ tote bag.

\- - - - - - - - - -

The following day began slow and easy, without alarms or pressing obligations to drag any of the house’s occupants out of bed. Amity was surprised to find herself awake before Luz this time, breaking their pattern as of late, but she supposed it made sense. The human had woken earlier and gone to sleep later than her yesterday, after all. Luz lay sprawled out, one arm flung akimbo and the other still wrapped snuggly around her waist. Amity found herself laying on her side, one arm stretched across Luz and one leg tangled between hers.

Even as ‘Panic!’ sirens began to flash behind her eyes, the witch allowed herself to enjoy it. Just a few more minutes, she reasoned, fighting against a purr that threatened to rise in the back of her throat and chastising, _Get ahold of yourself, Blight_. Eventually her eyelids began to droop again, so she wriggled free from Luz’s grasp as slowly and gently as she could. No use wasting the day away, and no use laying in bed playing make-believe either, so she fetched the backpack of books and made her way towards the stairs.

It didn’t take long for the bed to cool and for Luz to join her, brewing a pot of coffee for the two to share before settling down on the sofa and claiming some ‘borrowed’ books of her own. By the time Camila appeared an hour later the living room had transformed from a neat space to what might as well have been a college dorm room during finals week. Books lay in a scattered arc around the two girls, cluttering across the coffee table and end tables and even the floor, all flipped open to whatever page suited them best at the moment. In between lay sheets of looseleaf paper and notebooks and even sketchbooks, too.

Amity’s hair had been pulled up into a hasty bun, pencil held between her teeth and bobbing as she remarked on something Camila couldn’t make out, gesturing to the book Luz held out before her. The witch nodded as Luz ran her finger down the page, but whatever she was about to say was lost as she caught site of the older human lingering on the stairs.

Amity snatched the pencil from her lips and smiled. “Good morning, Ms. Noceda.”

Luz perked up as well, beaming out her own, “Mornin’ _Mami_! There’s coffee in the kitchen if you want some.”

Camila smiled at the pair and angled herself towards the kitchen. “Thank you, _cariño_.” Returning with a mug she looked over the sprawl, eyebrows raised. “This is what you checked out from the library? I thought the limit was ten per visit.”

Luz chuckled nervously. “Er… yeah. It’s too early to tell, but I think it was worth the trip. Some of these weird symbols are already starting to make sense.”

Camila reached out for one of the tomes nearest to her, careful to keep a finger between the open page as she flipped it over to read the cover: _‘Thesis: Indo-European Language Development and Cultural Significance as Related to Mythological Translations.’_ When Luz had mentioned their trip to ‘the library’ the previous evening Camila hadn’t spared it a second thought, never mind that Luz had been sparse on details. It was just a library, after all. However, being an intelligent woman fully aware of the sort of books public libraries stocked and those they didn’t, paired with the nervous apprehension that seemed to have frozen her daughter in place, certain things left unsaid began to become apparent.

Camila grumbled, “Eda is a bad influence on you,” and returned the book to it’s place on the end table.

Luz called after her mother as she retreated back into the kitchen, “We’re going to return them!”

As the morning wore on into afternoon, the pair worked diligently. Amity suggested they each take a paragraph of text from the ancient tomes and go through them block by block, translating what they could then switching notebooks to review the other’s work. Certain symbols seemed to be direct translations, and once they were able to uncover the phonetics of each the meaning of the words became clear. Others appeared to be entirely out of place, not to mention certain letters dropped into the middle of otherwise easily understood words at random.

Luz felt a headache begin to bloom behind her eyes. She loved a good mystery as much as the next reasonably intelligent person born with good taste, but this was just frustrating. The fact that certain things _did_ make sense almost made it worse. She rubbed her temples and leaned back into the couch, stifling a groan.

Amity poked her arm with a pencil. “You need a break? We’ve been at this for a while.”

“No, I’m fine. It’s just… weird.” She glared down at her notes.

The witch looked up from her own work, head tilted. “Weird how?”

Luz let loose an exasperated whoosh of air, gesturing limply to the chaotic mess that surrounded them while she sorted her thoughts into words. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled we’re making progress. But isn’t it sort of strange that the solution to a witch problem is _that_ easily solved with _human_ resources?”

She picked up her spiral bound notebook, now containing an almost complete reading of the first three pages of the tome containing the potential glyphs. Flipping through the work she had done, it was almost all there. Certain words were highlighted, those that had contained random letters and symbols that seemed to have no bearing on the actual meaning of the word they were found in. It seemed to be some sort of ancient mythos explaining the ways the Titan cared for it’s inhabitants, keeping the water clean and providing game and plants to be eaten, but so far little information about magic itself had been divulged.

“We still don’t know how old these books are, so I don’t even know if it lines up with when humans used these old spellings and symbols. And like Silgur and Harkenhog said, there’s no current record of them being used at any point on the Boiling Isles, so how the hell did they slip between realms?”

Amity hummed, leaning back as well. “That’s a good point. It almost feels like…” She paused, chewing on her lower lip as she thought.

Luz eyed her, waiting. Amity’s eyes darted across her notes, then to the book she held and back again.

“Maybe… It was intentional? We already know that things bleed between the Demon Realm and the Human Realm, like some of your monsters and myths. We know it’s possible, but we don’t know how much access the Savage Age witches _actually_ had. Other than Eda’s portal, I’ve never heard of anything like that. But if we can’t discount it, maybe this isn’t just an old forgotten way of writing.”

Luz felt a jolt pass through her, mind catching up to where Amity’s was heading. “If they did have some way to access other languages, it would be perfect for keeping things hidden from other witches who only knew Isles Common.” She frowned as a second thought struck her. “Come to think of it, the fact that English is widely shared between realms is sort of weird too.”

“Exactly,” Amity confirmed, leaning back over her work with renewed vigor. “Maybe it’s not just old. Maybe it’s supposed to be some sort of code.”

Suddenly those oddly placed characters seemed less of an inconvenience, and potentially so much more.

With these new thoughts to propel them the rest of the afternoon seemed to fade into a blur. At some point Camila brought them each a plate of food along with a maternal order to stand and stretch. Luz complied, sandwich in one hand and book in another as she paced from one side of the room to another, but for the life of her couldn’t recall what she’d actually eaten.

By the evening they were no closer to understanding what strange secrets the tomes might hide, but had been diligent about marking unusual characters when they appeared. Amity admitted that Silgur would probably be happy with what they had managed to accomplish so far, or at least she hoped so, and reasoned that he might be able to assist them on the next steps anyways. With that in mind it was easy enough for Camila to convince them to call it a day.

The books were cleared and returned to Luz’s backpack, now with new post-it notes and looseleaf scattered amongst their pages. The three women settled in the living room for dinner, Luz sat between her mother and Amity, rapturously enjoying a spicy stew her mother had poured over seasoned rice. With TV programming in question, Luz ended up suggested a string of nature documentaries that would hopefully be of interest to Amity. Her hope paid off in the form of having to nudge the witch again and again, reminding her to keep eating before her food got cold.

Both humans fielded Amity’s numerous questions, everything from how leopard seals managed to survive in waters so cold to plate tectonics and volcanoes; Unheard of natural phenomena to someone who’s entire society lived on the corpse of a titanic being. Both pitched in to help clean up what was left of dinner, with Amity delighted to find that Luz’s antics of singing in the kitchen appeared to be an inherited trait as the Noceda women dueted song after song. It was light-hearted and joyful, energetic in a way that managed to be relaxing after a day spend hunched over pages and papers.

She might as well have blinked before it was Monday morning, finding the pair packed and standing in the doorway to say goodbye.

Camila first swept Luz into a tight embrace and then Amity, who was surprised to find herself welcoming the physical affection. “Will you two be back next weekend, _beb_ _é_?”

Luz grinned and shrugged, looking aside to Amity who did the same. “I’ll let you know, _Mami_. Amity had to get an exception with work for Friday and today, so it might just be me.”

Camila waved her away. “Saturday and Sunday works just as well. Just let me know, _mija_.” She wrapped an arm around each girl, pulling them into her sides for another brief hug. “It was wonderful to have you girls here.”

“Thank you for having me, Ms. Noceda. Even if you might have ruined me for some cooking back on the Isles.” The witch grinned, hefting up a paper bag with leftover dishes tucked away inside. She was excited to see what the twins thought of it, which really meant she was eager to rub it in their faces that she’d gotten to try so many new and undeniably delicious dishes.

Camila beamed. “Nothing beats a mother’s home cooking. And please dear, you’re practically family. You can call me Camila, you know.”

Amity’s cheeks turned a pretty pink shade, but her smile grew and she nodded. Her thoughts wandered back to the conversation the two had shared during her first night at the Noceda home and something warm bloomed in her chest. “Alright. Thank you, Camila.”

Luz looked fit to burst, whether with happiness or just into tears she couldn’t be sure. Fending off any more emotional outpourings, Amity nudged the human in the side with her elbow. “You’re sure you didn’t forget anything?”

Luz jostled the backpack of books held on her shoulders, and hefted the bag she had brought with her from the Owl House along with the tote from the beach for show. “I think so. If not it’s a quick trip back.” Pulling out her phone to check the time, Luz nodded. “And we’ve gotta get going if you’re going to have time to get ready before you’re due at the Library. _Te quiero, Mami_. _Estaré de vuelta antes de que te des cuenta._ ”

“ _Yo también te quiero,_ _beb_ _é_ _._ ”

Luz leaned down to allow her mother a kiss on each cheek, and waved back over her shoulder as they rounded the corner bound for the shack in the woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. Luz's side of things when talking with her Mom went through a few re-writes so I hope the tone came across okay for everyone. Poor bean is pretty used to being pushed away by people, and even though it's _Amity,_ can you really blame her for not wanting to rock the boat? We'll see Amity's side of things here in the near future too.
> 
> As for those tomes and as the story goes on, I'd like to offer a prayer of thanks to my lord and savior Wikipedia. A lot of this past week was spent laying out the roadwork for upcoming chapters and hand to heart, I ended up donating because A. They deserve it and B. I have _no idea_ what this fic would become without it.
> 
> Finally, you guys blew it out of the water with comments last chapter, and I'm a little bit beyond words. Seeing people enjoying this fic is what keeps me going, and I love ya for it. Nearly at 10k hits and over 500 kudos and I just... Damn. For not having posted a fic in years, you're all exceeding my expectations in a way that leaves me misty eyed within the depths of my blanket cave ❤️


	14. The Next Step

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Luz practices her deductive reasoning and Amity gets a stern talking to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back! Sorry for the longer wait on this one, moving on into the next arc of the story was a little bit of a slower start than I'd hoped for. Hopefully this chapter makes up for the wait! (:

The short walk back to through the woods left Amity feeling oddly acclimated. It was almost disconcerting how quickly the distant rumble of engines and trilling birdsong had become pleasant background noise. She hardly paid it any mind. Neither did she comment on Luz dipping down to scoop up a handful of leaves and twigs before stepping up onto the shack’s dilapidated porch, even though that was… odd. Amity watched as she dug through her bag with her free hand for the stashed key, retrieving it with a flourish.

The portal was lit. Amity felt a wave of the Titan’s presence rush through from the other side, like cool water tapped from a spring. Her heart thumped in her chest, her bile sac twitched, as if she had been handed a canteen and not known she was parched until she felt it between her fingers.

“Ready?” Luz asked, smiling into the light.

Amity didn’t bother to wait, just flashed back a smile of her own and stepped through.

The Isle’s welcomed their return with the usual horrific fanfare; the scent of salt and sulphur wafting up from the cliffs behind the Owl House, chittering of howling spiders scuttling through the trees, griffins crying out in the distance. Amity let out a long contented breath as a weight lifted from her chest, and called a ball of fire into her palm. She smiled down at the warmth.

Luz bumped a hip against hers and Amity turned to see her cradling a light orb of her own. “Never gets old.”

Amity let the flame fizzle away. “I’d imagine not. I didn’t realize how much I missed it.”

The walk from the woods behind the house where the Emperor’s construction sat to the front door was short enough that neither bothered with conversation, each too wrapped up with drinking in the familiar sensations of home. It was a peaceful contemplation, nearly meditative, until…

“HOOT HOOT! You’re back!”

Amity’s shoulders wrenched upwards.

Luz snickered. “Hey, Hooty. Ya miss us?”

“Oh _boy_ , did I ever! You won’t believe how much has happened since you left.” Amity watched in horror as the bird tube took an unnaturally deep inhale, clearly preparing to launch into a ramble of titanic proportion. She looked up at the human beside her, desperation clear in her eyes.

Luz just winked and swooped in on the opportunity. “Hold on a minute Hooty, don’t you want your souvenir?”

The house demon gasped. “YOU BROUGHT ME A _PRESENT_?!” Somehow those beady little eyes got, well… even beadier. His beak opened and a tongue lolled out, slathering like a feral hound.

“Sure did, but you know the rules!”

The door swung open revealing the house’s interior, and Hooty wormed himself around the corner to keep a close eye on the pair. Amity considered making a run for it.

With deft hands Luz dropped her bags, fished a wind glyph from her pocket, tapped it with her thumb and sent the fistful of leaves and twigs scattering into the sky. Amity had nearly forgotten she was holding them, but with growing horror she watched as Hooty slammed himself face-first into the ground, burrowing and rumbling beneath their feet as he gave chase, emerging again and again like a breaching whale to snatch the debris from the air.

“Now’s our chance,” Luz hissed, steering her into the house by the shoulders.

“Neat trick,” Amity wheezed, still taken aback by what she considered a truly terrible scene.

Luz set her bags beside the sofa, being sure to keep hold of the portal key as she did so, and grimaced. “He kept me out there for over an hour a few weekends. I learned to improvise.”

“Ah, the old ‘Fetch’ trick?” Eda’s disembodied voice rang out from the hallway leading to the kitchen, with the silver haired woman herself soon following. Her golden fang glinted as she smirked at the pair.

“A classic,” Luz called back with a smirk of her own, skipping towards the witch for a hug once she was able. “Didja miss me?”

Eda scoffed. “Like a hole in the head,” even as she mussed up Luz’s hair.

The rapid pitter-patter of tiny feet on the stairs was the only warning Luz got before King launched himself at her. “You brought Hooty offerings but not your rightful king?” He squealed in anger, even as he nestled himself in the crook of her arms. “I banish you! Begone from my lands!”

“Aww, can I make it up with scritches, _mi pequeño monada?_ ” She ran her fingernails through the fur between his shoulder blades and the demon melted, eyes drooping.

“Scritches… shall suffice.”

Eda turned her gaze from the reunion beside her back to Amity, who stood shuffling from foot to foot. Exuberant entrances (and exits, for that matter,) were commonplace at the Owl House but it didn’t make it feel any less awkward when she was only spectating, unsure whether she should step forward with greetings of her own or slip out the front door to let them have their moment.

“So, Blight. What did you think of the human realm?”

Amity blinked, brain whirring to back into normal patterns once successfully derailed from her internal struggle. “Oh! Well… Nothing like home, that’s for sure.”

Eda snorted. “You can say that again. Wait until you’ve been a dozen times or so, it only gets weirder.”

Much like Camila’s implication that Amity would be returning often, Luz’s promise to take the bus ‘from now on,’ the very concept of _a dozen_ made her knees feel a little weak and the muscles of her face go rogue. She couldn’t guess what expression she was wearing, maybe something between surprise and panic. She was _not_ ready for Eda’s brand of motherly harassment, and she’d been on the receiving end often enough to know where this was going.

No wonder the Owl Lady and the twins got along so well.

“Oh, I don’t know if-”

Eda’s smirk just curled up higher on the golden-toothed side, but whatever retort she had prepared was cut off by Luz who was far too distracted by a giggling King to realize she was making it worse. “It was so much fun Eda! We went to a nature preserve for a hike, saw _giraffes_ at the zoo, got to see the sunset by the ocean! We even stole like, a dozen-plus books. You would’ve been so proud.”

Eda’s eyes never left Amity’s, suffice to appreciate the other witch’s valiant attempt to tamp down the fire in her cheeks. Mismatched eyes boring into gold, _somehow_ that Titan-forsaken smirk reached maximum levels of silent harassment. “Oh I am, kid. I’m very proud.”

Amity rushed towards the quickest option for escape. “ _Okay_ , well, I really have to get going!” She picked up her bags and turned for the door.

Luz dropped King to the tune of an indignant ‘Weh!’ “You want me to walk you to town?”

“I got this one kid,” Eda clapped her apprentice on the shoulder. “Owlbert’s quicker than walking, plus Lily’s working on something in the kitchen and could use a hand.”

Luz looked crestfallen, which was sweet, and Amity might have even been able to appreciate that if all of the blood in her body hadn’t drained down to her toes in a dizzying rush. This… probably wasn’t good.

\- - - - - - - - - - -

The Owl House kitchen was many things, but _clean_ was never one of them. It served primarily as a place to brew potions and prepare ingredients for said potions, with culinary pursuits coming in second place. Sometimes third, depending on what King was up to on any given week. So Luz was never surprised to walk in on anything from counters scattered with vials and bottles and various cauldrons to Eda in the process of butchering some horrific beast for bones and offal. Just another day in the life.

She rounded the corner and stopped in her tracks.

Lilith stood hunched over the island, hair pulled up and in the most casual clothing Luz had ever seen the woman wear. Her loose fitting tank clung to her and a sheen of sweat had captured a few loose strands of hair now stuck against her brow. The back door was propped open to let in a meager breeze but even that wasn’t enough to mitigate the stifling heat. Luz counted no fewer than eleven cauldrons bubbling and broiling, four on the island, more on the far counters, one being used to hold open said door. The hearth was roaring too, with strings of herb bundles set up before it to dry. Every spare inch of space was cluttered with books and unraveled scrolls, clusters of potion bottles and by the look of things even some bowls and cups had been brought to the cause once the house’s stash of potion bottles had been depleted. A long, empty trough of some sort had appeared on the wall beside the archway, whatever that was for.

Luz had seen the kitchen ‘messy’ countless times. She had never seen anything like this.

“When Eda said you needed a hand, I’m really hoping she didn’t mean to clean all this up.”

Lilith looked up from her work at the sound of Luz’s voice, wry smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “Only once we’re finished, of course. You’ll likely wish to change into something you don’t mind getting ruined. Will you ask Eda to join me for a moment on your way?”

Eyes still wandering over the absolute chaos, Luz mumbled through her distraction, “She went to take Amity home, should be back soon.”

“Oh. Very well.”

“Lily, what _is_ all this?”

Lilith waved her off. “The culmination of what we’ve been preparing for these last few weeks. Go on now, Eda will explain once she returns.”

Luz went. 

Riffling through the trunk in her room, she couldn’t help but grow excited at the prospect of getting some answers and didn’t find herself deterred in the slightest by the obviously laborious effort she was about to join in on. Part of working under Eda meant going at her pace, no matter how fast or slow, and submitting to her idea of what knowledge should be imparted and when. Luz knew that there had been a reason for their foraging, and that her mentor had been a bit cagey with her recent work. Titan, she hoped she got back soon.

Freshly changed into a paint-splattered T-shirt and cloth shorts, Luz paused only to give King a few tummy rubs before rejoining Lilith in the kitchen. She was immediately set to stirring the various cauldrons in a rotation while Lilith trailed behind with an armful of various beakers, adding a few drops of this or that to ensure everything was just right.

She explained that each cauldron save for the three largest was its own individual potion, each to serve a purpose for a collective whole. Luz couldn’t begin to think what would require such a vast quantity of brew unless they were about to go tranq a dragon or something. Not that she would put it past Eda, despite the fact that they were supposedly extinct. 

She lost track of how many times they circled the room, and before long found herself eagerly looking forward to the cauldron beside the open door, for the cool air that would waft through. Rotating the bundles of herbs drying before the hearth, on the other hand, was the absolute worst. They had to go slow so as not to jostle them, now crisp to the point of being brittle and fragile, and the roils of hot air that plumed out soon had her looking as sweaty and haggard as Lilith did.

One by one the cauldrons were taken off the heat, and Luz was tasked with bottling their contents while Lilith babysat the last few brews to completion. Somewhere in the middle of that the front door swung open and closed again, but a stern glance from Lilith was warning enough that Luz better not dash away from her post, no matter how badly she wanted to. Eda finally stepped back into the kitchen space just as Luz was scooping the coals from beneath the final cauldron into the hearth, which seemed like convenient timing to say the least.

“Alright, my young pupil- Wow, you two look _gross_.”

“No thanks to you,” Lilith muttered, wiping her brow with a damp towel.

Eda paid her no mind. “So, Luz. What do you think we’re working on?”

Luz nearly groaned. “Aren’t you supposed to tell _me_ that?” 

“What kind of teacher would I be if I never worked on your deductive reasoning skills?” Eda snorted and pulled a rolled up piece of parchment from her hair. Passing it over she tacked on, “Give me your best guess, I’ve got snails riding on this.”

Luz took the paper and shot a quick side-eye towards Lilith who was suddenly very interested in tending the now dying coals in the hearth.

Unraveling the scroll, Luz skimmed her eyes down the list. Each cauldron was numbered, with the list of ingredients labeled below alongside instructions for how to put the brew together. Her first impression was that Lilith must have been up before dawn to have all this ready by now, and her second was that she was only first-hand familiar with a handful of the ingredients. Sure, she recognized some names, like roc feathers and bloodbear claws and goldenroot, but she had never worked with them.

She started with what she _did_ know. “Well, blue-moon moss and slitherwort amplify and channel magical energy. I know that lionsmane petals do the same, and those are all in potions four through eight. I’m not really sure about the other ingredients. The three big cauldrons are all the same, but I don’t know if…”

Luz trailed off, walking over to where the bar stools had been set out of the way and dragging one back over to the island. She cleared a space and sat down, placing now full potion bottles on the scroll’s corners to keep it open in front of her.

Bonemeal from a giant, Titanic mica, grasping vine seed pods… She had never worked with those before either, but a faint memory from her time in potions class scratched at the back of her mind. “The three large cauldrons seem like an… amplification of something. I remember Professor Harrier saying that you can exchange certain ingredients for more powerful substitutes if they have the same native magical energy. That might be…” She rubbed her temples. “I don’t know, maybe a binding potion?”

Eda came up to lay a hand on her shoulder. “Interesting guesses, kid. What about the last three?”

Luz let her breath out in one short huff. “I don’t know! I mean, the ninth seems like a potion for resilience or shielding, but with goldenroot added in I have no idea how that changes things. It’s also brewed for twice as long. Same with the tenth, it _looks_ like a levitation potion, I remember when we made those last summer, but I’ve never worked with roc feathers either.”

“And the last one?”

Luz looked up, surprised to find a gleam in Eda’s eyes as if she was waiting for something. Even Lilith had left off fiddling with the coals, now sitting still before the fire but with one ear trained her direction.

“Well… From the instructions it’s incomplete right now. ‘Mix with chalk or smooth river clay free of other debris before use.’ That’s sort of like the burn salve you sell in the market. The ingredients though?” Lesser basilisk tears, heart strings of a harpy, animus root. 

Basilisk tears would stop the process of petrification or reverse it, she knew that. Heart strings were for vitality, they’d been in loads of potions used in the war to keep people on the brink of death alive long enough to receive medical treatment. Animus root was the same, but exceedingly expensive and rare by virtue of being able to coax willing souls back into a body given they were recently departed.

“I’ve never seen a potion with all of this combined, but they all have something to do with life. Saving a life, bringing someone back to life...” Luz’s voice tapered off as she looked around the room, eyeing the various bottles and vats and vials now organized by kind on the far counter and the island. Back to the list, she considered what she _did_ know. 

A binding agent, and lots of it, the kind enchanters might use. Amplifying and channeling magical energy. Levitation, or floating or flying. Vitality and life, but to be applied as a salve. Her eyes wandered to the long, empty trough that sat against the wall unused as of yet. She bolted upright with a gasp, stool clattering to the floor behind her.

Eda grinned like a cat in the cream.

“ _No_! Really!?”

“Really really, kid.”

“You’re fucking with me. Are you fucking with me? I know where you sleep Eda, I will murder you if this is a joke.”

Eda cackled, head tossed back. “Why don’t you tell me your guess before you go throwing death threats around, eh?”

Hands clasping and unclasping, bouncing on the balls of her feet, Luz had to force the words past her lips, terrified that she’d gotten her hopes up for nothing. “Are- Are you going to teach me how to make my staff?”

Eda nodded, beaming out a smile of unbridled pride, and Luz flung her arms around her mentor's neck in a crushing hug. The older witch laughed, even as she tried to worm out of the hold. 

“Stop that, go take a shower first.” She reached an arm up and palmed Luz’s face away, forcing the human back. “But yeah kid, you’re ready.” Looking over to where Lilith now stood, Eda laughed again. “Why you lookin’ so glum, sis? Picturing the new dress I’m about to buy with your money? I told you she would figure it out.”

Lilith spluttered, “I- I didn’t doubt her intelligence, but let’s be fair here! Half of those ingredients aren’t even part of the usual process.”

“Really?” Luz perked, looking back at the list. Not like she had any idea what the ‘usual process’ entailed in the first place, but that still got her attention. “How come?”

Eda picked Luz’s stool up and went to grab one of her own, with Lilith joining them at the island soon after. “Thing is, no one’s ever made a staff without a bile sac before. We’ve been working this out for a while now and I’m pretty confident it’ll work, but with some adjustments.”

“We did make a double batch though, just in case,” Lilith muttered on her other side.

Luz cocked her head sideways as a sudden realization came to mind. “I know witches normally get their staves after they graduate, but none of my friends have theirs yet.”

“They’re provided by the school after graduation, yes.” Lilith summoned her own staff into existence beside her. “They’re mass produced, so attuning to the staff given to you takes time and is part of the process of integrating into your chosen coven. Gus and Willow will have begun that process already.”

Eda summoned Owlbert as well, with the usual racket and fanfare of the staff clattering in from the other room. “Making your own staff is how witches used to do it. It was the only choice I had, for obvious reasons. When you go that route, attunement is part and parcel of the process.”

Luz looked back and forth between the staves, the sleek white appearance of Lilith’s contrasted against the worn, hand-wrought wood of Eda’s. “What does that mean for witches who don’t join a coven now that they don’t have to anymore?” _What does that mean for Amity?_

Eda smiled like she was perfectly aware just what Luz was really asking, and shrugged. “Dunno. Guess they’ll have to go back to the old way too.”

\- - - - - - - - - -

Evening light streamed in behind Amity as she pushed her way into the townhouse, exhausted but warm with satisfaction. Silgur seemed appropriately interested in the work she and Luz had done over the weekend, if somewhat dubious that anything of magical importance would come of it. In his words that was ‘the nature of this business’ of course, and provided she gave him at least two days' warning should she decide to return to the human realm for further research she was clear on that front too. All in all it seemed to have been a success.

The exhaustion came from her coworkers. Or rather, one coworker in particular.

Lora had been positively venomous, which for the life of her Amity didn’t understand. Not that she was outright hostile, both were too well bred to stoop to such levels, but in a sharp and cloying way that reminded her of her mother and the various socialites she had filled her time with. 

_You seem to have made a good impression, and so quickly. I guess those rumors about what Blight Money can do are true after all,_ played off as a joke between friends, which they certainly were not.

 _To think, the future of magic on the Boiling Isles rests in the hands of a human and her library card. Wonders never cease,_ given in the tone of someone pleasantly amused while her eyes told a different story entirely.

 _You seem a bit worn out today, are you feeling well? That human been keeping you up at night?_ The implication had Amity blushing to the tips of her ears, and of course Lora clarified that she had spent plenty of late nights ‘studying’ herself so she ought to know, but Amity still heard the witch’s laughter in her mind long after she had retreated to the private office to work in peace.

Now in the comfort of her own living room all Amity wanted was to change into comfier clothes, eat something filling and go to bed at the earliest hour she could reasonably do so.

“Mittens! There you are!”

Amity sighed.

Edric swept out from the hall beside the stairs and Emira’s head could be seen in the kitchen through the gap above the bar, beaming at her from over her shoulder. “There’s our favorite interdimensional baby sister!” Edric wrapped her in a squeezing hug, picking her up until the tips of her toes barely scraped against the floor. Neither had been home when she stopped by earlier, and she groaned at not having foreseen this.

“Ed, put me down,” she wheezed, doing her best to kick at him. He released her and laughed as a few extra kicks sent him skittering back towards the couch. 

“Don’t think you’re going anywhere until you tell us all about it!” Emira called out, having turned back to whatever she was stirring on the stove. 

Ignoring her entirely, Amity made for the stairs. “What are you cooking?”

Her sister lifted a ladle and let it’s contents pour slowly back into the large pot. “Hodge Podge stew. Wanted to use up the rest of that roast and the tubers before they spoiled.”

Hodge Podge was a term the three had coined when they first moved in, which roughly translated to ‘throw it all in a pot before it goes bad and see what happens,’ which was successful about 70% of the time, give or take.

Amity raised her voice as she headed up the stairs, “Oh good. If it sucks Camila gave me a bunch of leftovers, they’re in the fridge. Hands off unless I’m there to eat them too, though.”

“Who says it’s going to suck?!”

“You call her Camila now?!”

In the relative peace of her bedroom Amity was quick to shed her formal pants and button up for a loose fitting tee and leggings, sighing in relief and she flopped backwards onto her bed. She’d face the music with the twins eventually, but she hated the music so it could wait for now. Oddly enough she found herself _wanting_ to talk about her weekend, about what she had seen and done and experienced. If they weren’t such assholes all the time she might not have been hesitating, but she’d heard enough from Eda that morning and wasn’t exactly eager for round two. 

* * *

_It was a quick flight from the Owl House to Bonesboro, ten minutes max. When Luz flew her she’d always lamented how quickly it went by but with Eda at the helm she would have given a limb for the ability to teleport. She knew how fast Owlbert could fly and this definitely wasn’t it._

_“So, you have fun?” It was a light, casual tone that promised nothing good._

_Amity was literally trapped one hundred feet in the air. No getting out of it. “Yeah. I wasn’t expecting it to be so different. Or so much bigger.”_

_Eda barked out a laugh. “You’re telling me. I’ll teach Luz how to hotwire a car, she can take you on a proper road trip someday.”_

_Amity had no response for that._

_Of course, Eda was just getting started. “What’d you think of that guest bed? Nearly threw my back out the few times I stayed over.”_

_Sitting behind the older witch, Amity was glad no one else could see the pink in her cheeks. “I wouldn’t know.”_

_“Oof, the couch? That’s even worse.”_

_“...Can we just get this over with please?”_

_Eda turned over her shoulder to look at her, a wolfish grin putting her golden fang on proud display. “You sure about that?”_

_“Not at all, but when’s that ever stopped you?”_

_Eda laughed again, shoulders shaking and head tipped back. “Look, kid. I’m not trying to give you the shovel talk or anything-”_

_Amity’s brows furrowed. “What’s a shovel talk?”_

_“Human phrase. Ask Luz what it means, but make sure I’m in the room first because her reaction would be hilarious. All I’m trying to say is that the rest of us are about ready to pull our hair out around the two of you.”_

_Amity’s grip on the staff handle tightened. “It’s really no one else’s business.”_

_“That’s where you’re wrong. Her business is my business because I care about the little squirt. Luz is like a daughter to me, and I know I don’t say it often but I’d protect her before I’d protect myself.”_

_“So would I,” Amity sighed, more to herself than for Eda but audible all the same._

_“Difference is, Luz knows I love her.”_

_Amity spluttered, “Who said anything about l-”_

_Eda carried on like the younger witch hadn’t spoken at all. “I don’t want either of you getting hurt, but the longer the pair of you dance around each other the more likely it is that’ll happen. You know how she is, gets ahead of herself sometimes and makes dumb assumptions.”_

_That…. Did sound like Luz._

_“It’s obvious to anyone with at least two braincells that there’s something going on, and whatever it is_ is _your business. But if it ends up with Luz moping around my house with a broken heart, that’s when it becomes mine and I’m not about to let that happen.”_

_The idea that Amity was actually capable of breaking Luz’s heart had her stomach in knots. First for the notion that it was even possible, but also because she wasn’t sure she’d be able to live with herself if she ever fucked up badly enough to bring that into reality._

_“I’d never hurt her like that,” Amity hissed. “What makes you think that I would?”_

_In a voice harder than Amity was expecting Eda snapped back, “There are a hundred different ways unrequited feelings can hurt someone. Luz spent the last eighteen years of her life getting kicked around by almost everyone back in her realm. She deserves to be told_ exactly _what she means to the people that_ do _care about her, not to be left guessing.”_

_The words stabbed through Amity like a hot knife through butter and her heart clenched._

_“So put on your big girl panties and just talk to her, would ya?”_

* * *

Amity snapped back from the memory with a groan. Eda’s words burned in her mind, replayed again and again throughout the day. Every time she thought about acting on them a cold stone of fear seemed to settle in her gut. She wasn’t ready. She couldn’t do that, couldn’t face a new reality of uncertainty when things seemed okay as they were. It wasn’t perfect, she wanted more than what they had but… Who was she to be worthy of someone like Luz in the first place?

 _She deserves to be told exactly what she means to the people that do care about her_ , her mind whispered back. 

Amity thought back to the night of her panic attack, the foggy memories of Luz’s warm hand running up and down her spine as she cried until her eyes stung. Thought about Luz’s own nightmare, where the two of them had laid exactly where she was now, falling asleep in each other’s arms for the first time and doing so again and again at every opportunity since. She brought her hands up to cool down the heat in her cheeks. 

_Luz helping her with her project at work_ … She rolled onto her side.

 _Luz singing in the kitchen, telling her about the trees, holding her hand at the zoo_ … She summoned her otter plush, held it tightly in her arms. 

_A sunset on the beach, a promise to cook her all the human foods she could eat, a kiss on her brow, making her breakfast when she was late to work, a terrible night in the forest when she had nearly lost her_ … She summoned her scroll.

 _She deserves to be told_ exactly _what she means to the people that_ do _care about her, not to be left guessing._

**Amity:** Do you have time to meet up when I’m off work tomorrow?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES AMITY, YES. FINALLY??? I mean, we'll see what happens, I promise nothing but even as the author _I'm_ excited to have made it to this point. Let's hear your bets folks, how is next chapter going to go? 👀
> 
> As always thank you so much to new and old readers alike for the kind words and kudos! We're at the point now where if you've commented more than once odds are good I've memorized your pfp and get +1 bonus happy every time I see you pop up. It means a lot ❤


	15. The Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Luz talks to the trees, Amity works up her nerve, and Luz makes a choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (:

Late May on the Boiling Isles was already warmer than Luz would have expected back home. Even with the sea wind that swept up over the cliffs, it was always better to get outdoor chores done in the early morning or once the sun had begun to set. She knew by the time June and July rolled around she would be wishing for days as mild as these, but that was a problem for Future Luz. 

Not that Current Luz needed to worry about it all that much either, seeing as whatever the weather was like on the outskirts of town no one seemed to have informed the Knee.

Luz shivered within the depths of her quilted coat and fleece, wrapping her arms across her chest and shoving mittened hands under her armpits. “I thought you said that the last of the Spring snows should be gone by now?”

Eda raised a hand against the wind, trying to keep the far-flung micro-daggers that the snow had become out of her eyes. Raising her voice enough to be heard, she shouted back, “Exactly, I said _should_ be gone by now. When have the Isles ever done what they should?”

“Point taken,” Luz grumbled, kicking out her right leg to dislodge a clump of snow that threatened to fall inside and melt against her already damp socks.

“Don’t worry, we’re almost at the grove. It’ll break the wind!”

Titan, she hoped so.

They had left at dawn for the Knee, headed for an ancient grove of trees. It was one of many scattered across the Titan’s corpse, sacred places left untouched for time eternal if Eda could be believed. Every staff that had ever been lovingly crafted by a witch’s own hands could be traced back to one of these places of power and was a crucial part of the process. They couldn’t just go hack off any limb from anywhere and expect results, apparently. That’d be nonsense, not to mention far too easy.

Through the bluster and whiteout, a faint smudge of darkness began to take shape up ahead. Luz forced her legs to go as fast as they could through the drifts, only tripping on two hidden stumps as she passed Eda by. Shrubs and saplings on the outskirts of the forest eventually gave way to taller trees, whose sweeping canopies and bowing branches laden with snow did seem to make a difference. Drifts still mounded up near their trunks, but the walking was easier and the wind eased off the farther in they went. 

Eda pulled back up beside her. “Remember, keep your wits about you. Powerful places lure in all sorts of unsavory things if you’re lucky.”

Luz stopped short. “Lucky, or unlucky?”

Eda clapped her shoulder as she resumed the lead. “Depends on what’s on sale in the market!”

Something about the snow seemed to muffle sounds, and even though the wind whistled up above the forest floor was quiet as a grave. Eda would pause from time to time to examine tracks left in the snow by the wildlife, those of a young slitherbeast, and then the trail of something with large clawed paws that ended in a scattering of feathers and pink snow. Large stones and boulders surrounded them as well, dotted across their summits with smaller prints of beasts hoping for a roost, or a vantage point above the drifts. Luz patted her glyph pouch, double-checking it was properly belted around her waist and securely snapped shut.

“So, just… any tree?” Luz wondered out loud.

“Pfft, no. ‘Course not. These are still baby trees compared to those that offer up staffwood.”

Luz arched her head back, letting her eyes scan to the tops of the giants they walked beneath now. Their trunks nearly six feet wide, the tips of their branches easily clawing upwards of one hundred feet into the sky. “If you say so.”

“When have I ever steered you wrong before?”

Luz opened her mouth to reply-

“Don’t answer that.”

She snapped her mouth shut.

Luz soon lost track of how long they had been walking, focused more on the sound of snow crunching beneath her boots, and listening for any unexpected footfalls beside or behind them. True to Eda’s words, the further they drew into the forest the more massive the trees became. Six foot wide trunks soon became ten, and then twenty and more. Her eyes shot upward at a sudden flurry of movement and sound. Far above them lemur-like creatures the size of gorillas leaped from branch to branch, chattering and whooping as they alerted other members of their band to the witches passing below. She stopped to watch, breathless at the immensity that surrounded her.

“First time seeing a Frost Howler?” Eda asked from up ahead, having stopped a few paces further once she realized Luz had done the same.

Luz snapped out of her daze. “Wha? Oh… Yeah, I think so.”

“Well don’t stare too long, makes ‘em nervous. Come on, we’re nearly there. I can tell Owlbert’s getting excited.” The palisman was still dormant and stowed atop her mentor’s staff, but Luz would take her word for it.

Eda turned back to the non-existent trail, but Luz lingered a moment longer to slip off a mitten and press the flat of her palm against the icy, slightly spongy bark before her. She closed her eyes, pretended it was summer, pretended she was back in Northern California, pretended that it didn’t make her heart hurt then slipped the glove back on as she hurried to catch up.

Eventually Eda slowed to a stop, spreading her arms wide as she spun in a slow circle. “I got Owlbert’s staffwood from somewhere around here. This is the heart of the grove. It’s been here for wild witches ever since there _were_ wild witches. I mean this seriously Luz, this place deserves your respect.”

Eda didn’t need to tell her twice. Something about the forest made Luz feel as though she was in a church. 

Not one of those factory-fabricated constructions that dotted every countryside street back home, but a monolithic cathedral, so old that the thoughts and feelings of anyone who had crossed its ancient flagstones couldn’t be conceptualized. The closer she looked she realized that ice and snow had not haphazardly amassed themselves on these trunks like those she had passed only half an hour before, but had crept up in patterns and swirls akin to vines. This part of the forest was scattered with stones and boulders too, worn round over time, but where the snow had blown clear small etchings and runes peeked through. Even without a bile sac there was a sense of magic in the air.

Luz took a deep breath. “So what should I do?”

“Get a feel for things. Push out your thoughts and intentions, picture it as an aura surrounding you and approach them with respect. See if any of the Elder trees seem to call to you.”

Luz shot her a deadpan look. “That’s it?”

“What do you want me to say, kid?” Eda swept a plume of snow off of the nearest rock and leaned back against it. “This is about making a connection, you know by now there’s no rulebook for that.”

Luz sighed. She did. She did know that. But how hard could it really be? She was an old hand at connecting to the Isles at this point, it wasn’t her first rodeo! She’d have her staffwood before she knew it. Confidence was key. She took a deep breath in, let it out slowly, did her best to let every thought swirling through her mind trickle out through her feet and into the earth, leaving her still and steady. Mittens tucked into her pocket and senses extending out into the forest around her, she began.

  
  
  


“Listen Luz, first time’s rarely the charm. Took me three weeks to get the materials for Owlbert.”

Luz just groaned, muffled though it was from her face-down position in the snow.

Eda was unperturbed, holding her hands up before the small crackling fire she had started sometime during their third hour in the forest. It had been burning for a while now. A small tin kettle whistled atop it, and the Owl Lady slipped on a glove before taking it from the flames. 

Pouring out two cups of tea she reached one over towards the dejected lump that was her apprentice. “Here, this’ll warm you up.” 

No response. 

Eda huffed and stood, nudging the toe of her boot against Luz’s ribs. “Quit sulking, it would’ve been a miracle if you got it on the first try. C’mon, up.”

Reluctantly, Luz upped. 

She brushed the melted snow first from her face and then from the front of her coat and shoulders before slouching forward, taking the metal cup and cradling it in her hands. “Did we really have to start at the coldest place?”

“Yes, for several reasons,” Eda mused, taking a perverse amount of satisfaction in the way Luz glared at her, bottom lip puffed out in a pout. “For one thing, this is where I got Owlbert and you’re my apprentice. Sometimes that connection means something, sometimes not. Second, coming here in high summer means more nasty beasts to fight off once they’re out of hibernation. No bueno.”

Luz grumbled, “So you can learn Spanish phrases and pick up lines but not-”

“Third, it was the closest location so if you wanted to start the search today, as _you_ insisted, and be on time for your date with Baby Blight it had to be here.”

A mistimed sip of her tea meant half came out her nose and the other half got caught in her throat. Eda took a long drink herself while Luz hacked and choked, fighting to clear her airway.

“Eda, I swear to God-”

“That prick has nothing on me so swear all you like. I calls ‘em like I sees ‘em.”

Luz rubbed a hand against her temple. Maybe the day’s failure so far had put her in a sour mood, or maybe it was echoes of her mother’s voice in their darkened kitchen, but whatever it was culminated in Luz really not being in the mood for teasing right now. _All I know is a little communication can go a long way._ She pushed the thoughts from her mind, lest today’s fruitless efforts and getting her hopes up for nothing combine to conspire against her. 

“She just wants to talk after work. Don’t make a big deal out of it, please?”

Eda opened her mouth to say more, eyes shining with mirth and more of the ruthless one-liners that Luz usually loved her for, but something in the human’s expression must have changed her mind. She didn’t see Luz as flustered and exasperated but instead bordering on dejected low spirits. Eda might occasionally revel in being a bit of a bitch, but that didn’t mean she was a monster.

“Alright kid. Whatever you say. You wanna try some more trees, or head home?”

“Let’s just head home.” Luz let out a long breath through her nose, stood and stretched, then handed her empty cup back to the witch. Forcing a smile onto her face she tacked on, “I’m about to take the hottest shower of my _life_.”

  
  


\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

  
  


Golden light streamed into the townhouse, the first signs of early evening pushing out the previous day. Although absent the smell of dinner on the stove, there were still drifting dustmotes aplenty and gentle hubbub of life beyond its walls filtering in through door frames and windows. It should have been peaceful. It _would_ have been peaceful, if not for-

TAK-TAK, TAK-TAK, TAK-TAK…

Edric slumped backward against the couch and groaned loud enough for Emira to hear him from the kitchen, where she shuffled through the icebox. She closed the door with more force than was probably necessary.

TAK-TAK, TAK-TAK, TAK-TAK… A pause… TAK-TAK, TAK-TAK.

“I can’t take it anymore,” the Blight brother muttered, picking up the nearest pillow and doing his best to smother himself. 

“You know if we go up there she’s just going to bite our heads off.”

Emira walked out with a plate of cold cuts and bread in one hand, condiments and vegetables in the other. It was only enough for two, but she had been told in no uncertain terms when Amity blew through half an hour ago that she wouldn’t be joining them for dinner tonight so that was fine. Edric tossed the pillow onto the floor, pretending he didn’t notice Em’s sour glare.

In-between sandwich prep Ed asked, “And that’s stopped us when? She’s going to wear a hole in the floorboards at this rate.”

TAK-TAK, TAK-TAK, TAK-TAK.

“Probably. If you’re this invested I get to use you as my meatshield.”

“Aw, it’s nice that you’re asking permission this time,” he smiled over at his twin, who smeared mustard across his cheek for his efforts.

Secure in the knowledge that it was Mittens’ turn to do laundry this week he wiped his sleeve across his cheek while Emira hauled him up, angling the pair towards the stairs.

On the floor above, the strangest thing they found was that Amity’s door was actually open. Whether she was in her room or not, ‘closed’ was the universally agreed upon default position. If Amity had left for the day and either discovered her bedroom door unlatched the first thought would be ‘tampering and thievery’ before ‘Mittens forgot to close it today.’ Of course, that wasn’t a problem right now because there was their baby sister, free for all eyes to see, pacing back and forth across the floorboards. 

TAK-TAK, TAK-TAK, TAK-TAK.

Emira propped her shoulder against one side of the doorframe, perplexed. Edric mirrored her on the opposite side. The eldest Blight sister whispered under her breath, “Well, this is new.”

“It can only be one thing though, right?”

“Naturally.”

TAK-TAK, TAK-TAK, TAK-TAK... A pause as she turned… TAK-TAK, TAK-TAK.

“Think she’s noticed us?”

“Not a chance.”

The pacing continued. From the nearest wall and then back towards her nightstand, halted only because the structural integrity of the house would not permit her to pace any farther, there their baby sister went, back and forth. One arm folded across her middle, the other elbow propped in the crook so that her hand was free to worry at the hairs on the side of her head, come loose recently from her anxious ministrations. 

Emira sighed. “Mittens?”

TAK-TAK. TAK-TAK.

“Mittens.”

TAK-TAK. TAK-TAK.

“ **AMITY!** ”

The youngest Blight whirled to face them, face flooding with color in time, though whether this was anger or embarrassment Emira couldn’t say. The rate at which blood rushed into her cheeks might have been impressive if not for the glint of rage that filled her eyes right after.

“Get out!” 

_Right, anger it is._

“Not this time, baby sis!” Em swept into the room, grabbing her by the wrists before a half-drawn spell circle could be completed, the remnants of which fizzled out. With deft hands she pushed her sister back towards the bed’s edge, walking the younger witch until it caught her behind the knees and then forcing her to sit.

“Either fume here in silence or tell us what’s up,” Edric said, coming to stand beside his twin. “The pacing is getting a little out of control.”

Amity scowled. “I choose Option A.”

“Wrong choice.” Emira flopped down beside her. “I’ve seen you in all manner of panics and this is something else. What happened? Whose body do we have to hide?”

Of all the reactions she might have expected, a second of consideration followed by a shimmer of true fear in her sister’s eyes before she slumped forward to bury her head in her hands was not one of them. “Mine. Or Eda’s, maybe.”

Emira blinked. “... I choose yours if that’s an honest option.”

Edric circled round to the opposite side, and Amity felt more than saw him settle down onto the mattress. Her brother reached an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his side. “Seriously Mittens, what’s up? I mean, we know you’re neurotic but this is truly worrying.”

The younger witch muttered choice phrases into her palms, none of which the twins opted to comment on. Edric paused to shove a portion of sandwich into his mouth, the size of which strained against the realm of possibility before attempting to speak. Emira, currently holding their shared brain cell, pushed him aside to hack as she took Amity under her arm instead.

“What did Luz do this time?”

It was half-teasing and half-earnest, so color her surprised when Amity leaned into her embrace, took a steadying breath then proceeded to spill. 

She started with a recount of Eda’s speech the evening before, how Luz deserved to know how she felt in plain terms and how she _knew_ that was true. She peppered in details of their weekend spent in the human realm, Luz’s actions during her panic attack, and that wonderful half-remembered morning waking up in her shadow. A terrible day in the bookstore, comfort in a library and a thousand more tiny moments only half-remembered and fragmentally squeezed into the narrative she was trying to convey.

“I can’t keep doing this,” Amity whispered on the verge of tears. “Eda is right, Luz deserves honesty, and it’s stupid to keep dancing around things. But… I’m so _fucking_ terrified.”

Em ran a soothing hand up and down her back, and all Amity could think of was how she wished it was someone else’s and how she praised the Titan that it wasn’t the case. “Terrified of what? Even you have to know that girl’s head over heels for you.”

Amity shrugged, a loose and sad little gesture from her free shoulder. “Maybe, but it’s not rejection. It’s just…” 

Ed, recovered now and breathing properly, propped himself up onto his elbows. “Just what?”

Somehow Amity crumpled even further. “Don’t take this the wrong way, okay? You know I love you guys, but-”

“Could stand to say it more often.”

Emira shoved Edric back down onto the mattress, where he obediently remained. 

“Luz is…” Amity continued on like she didn’t even notice. Odds were good she hadn’t. “These last few years, ever since she showed up here? I can’t picture who I would be without her. Losing her would be like losing my magic, or worse, I don’t know. That’s the problem!” She laughed, but it was bitter. “I know she deserves honesty, but what right do I have to ask for more from someone who’s already given me everything? And if she says no that’s awful, and if she says yes and things go bad anyway, I feel like I’ll lose the thing that makes me… _me_. The most important person in my life.” She hiccuped, swallowing back tears. 

Edric piped up after a beat of silence. “You sound pretty set on the idea that things will go bad. Which is wild to me.”

Another half-hearted shrug.

Emira picked up from where her twin left off. “Honestly Mittens, you two are kind of gross to be around. I think it’s really admirable that you want to come clean with her. Titan knows it’s taken you both long enough, but I think you’re letting your anxiety get the better of you here.”

For the first time in Emira’s life, or at least that she could recall, her baby sister looked up at her with eyes so pleading and searching it sent a bolt of electricity straight through her core. She turned to gather Amity’s wrists in her hand, turning the younger witch around to face her. 

“I mean it. For _anyone_ crossing that line is a big change, but I get why it’s so much more for the two of you. Asking Viney out was one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever done, and she was just a schoolmate I didn’t think Mother and Father would approve of. I don’t know how much I can help here, but I swear this is the truth. If things go right? It’s so, _so_ worth it.”

Amity dragged the heel of her palm against her eyes, carrying on in a valiant attempt to convince them that she wasn’t crying. Of course, her wavering, watery voice didn’t help. “Yeah?”

Ed sat up to wrap his own arm around her shoulder, mirroring Em as she pulled their sister tight into an embrace between them. “Yeah.”

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Whatever Luz had been expecting when Amity showed up later that evening, it certainly hadn’t involved a new dress she couldn’t remember seeing before or her hair left loose to flow over her shoulders. The fabric faded from cream where it was offset from her shoulders to pale pink at its hem, with darker rose-colored and gold embroidery scattered throughout. Beneath the dress lay a pair of black leggings, paired with black flats in place of her regular heeled boots. She wore them so infrequently Luz almost forgot how short the witch was, despite the number of times she had seen her in little more than sleepwear.

It was… extremely endearing.

All the same, Amity was clearly dressed up. In contrast with her own jean shorts and cropped black tank, freshly changed from her time on the Knee, Luz was feeling underdressed.

So there she was, standing in the entryway of the Owl House, fumbling. “Oh! You look good. I mean, _nice_. You look nice, should I change? I didn’t know if we were going anywhere, I just-”

Amity reached for her forearms, holding the human in place even as she tried to turn back into the house. “No! No.” She took a deep breath, and Luz took a moment to look beyond her outfit to the witch beneath and found her… off, ever so slightly. 

Not in a bad way, but in an unexpected way. She was used to Amity being a bit flighty and occasionally off-kilter, but right now her eyes seemed to dart every which way except up to meet her own and the hem of her dress was crinkled in a freshly-grasped way Luz had come to associate with ‘nervous.’ 

Amity continued, ignorant of Luz’s assessments. “I thought we could just go sit by the cliffs if that’s okay?”

Luz beamed, hoping to put her at ease. “Lead the way.”

The land beside the Owl House dropped off just over a dozen yards away but despite the short walk, it was more than enough time for Luz to take in the witch’s state in detail. Her gentle smile was absent and the easy conversation that normally flowed between them seemed to have gone with it. She still wouldn’t meet her eyes. Luz’s own anxieties began to twist in her gut. Something was clearly wrong, but what? Had she done something?

Luz rolled her shoulders, forcing those thoughts away. It wasn’t like Amity was shy of telling her when she was being ‘too much,’ rare as those occasions had become over the years. She shouldn’t get ahead of herself, so instead Luz fell back on old habits, little tricks she had learned in the aftermath of the war.

“Hey,” she said, breaking the tense silence just as they settled down onto the grass, wind whistling in the nearby trees and ocean waves crashing beneath them. “Want to hear about my day?”

Amity’s eyes snapped to hers, albeit briefly, but the relief she saw there was reward in and of itself. Sometimes when the witch’s mind got too busy, too jumbled, the best medicine was just to sit and listen. If you let _her_ explain it she just liked the sound of Luz’s voice, and it helped to keep her calm. Apparently that was true today as well. 

“Yes, please.”

So Luz began. Waking up long before the milky dawn crept over the horizon, dressing in layers that left her sweltering until they finally reached the apex of the knee, how much she hated soggy socks. She wondered aloud if their slitherbeast friend from years past might have a little one in tow, or one that had recently left the nest, and described the look of feathers resting atop pink snow. Hours and hours of laying her hands upon the bark of trees, body still as stone and palms pleading for anything that might be a response or reaction, peppered with reluctant admissions that ‘Of course Eda knows what she’s doing, you know I have faith in her, but-’ and all the frustrations that had followed.

As the sun began to set before them Amity felt her heartbeat slow from frantic to what could almost be called normal. She wanted more than anything to lean into Luz’s side but the sharp reminder of what she had come there to do told her that she shouldn’t. She hoped Luz didn’t notice or care about the careful space left between them, but in the back of her mind knew that the human was far too perceptive for that.

“I know that no human has ever made a staff before,” Luz carried on as she had been. “I don’t expect it to be easy, but can you fault me for being impatient?”

She sighed, eyeing the sliver of gold that separated the ocean’s surface from the scarlet sky. Titan, she wanted more than anything to have the freedom to fly between them at her leisure. She’d dreamed of it for the past four years and it was finally in her grasp, so long as she could figure this out. 

Carrying on, conscious that Amity had yet to speak and more than willing to indulge in a good ramble, added, “I just have to trust the process. I mean, if anyone can figure this out it’s Eda. Or maybe you.” 

Luz flashed her a bright, hooked grin and leaned over to bump her shoulder. Amity’s heart jumped into her throat.

Hands once again twisting in the fabric of her dress, it was like the nerves that had been steadily trickling away were back in full force. Apparently they had only been hiding beneath the surface, and maybe she was foolish for expecting anything else.

She laughed but there was no mirth to it. “You and I both know you think too highly of me.”

Luz rolled her eyes, pleased that she was adding her two cents at last but aghast at the words she had chosen. “Uhm, excuse me? Who here was assigned by the most prestigious institution on the Isles to recover lost secrets of magic? You’re as qualified as anyone to teach a human how to make a staff, change my mind. I can wait.”

It was lighthearted banter, a blunt force weapon against the anxious mood she knew Luz could sense, but Amity appreciated it all the same. Granted, she showed that appreciation by glaring at her from the corner of narrowed eyes. “Someday you’ll get tired of buttering me up.”

Luz laughed, free and easy. “Bet. Maybe once you stop giving me reasons to.”

Memories flashed behind Amity’s eyes. 

_Luz holding her hand in a bookstore._

_Pulling Amity into her side in their secret room._

_Propping her up on her bad days and celebrating the good ones from her kitchen floor._

_Seeking Amity out after her nightmares._

_A hand on her knee under a human realm table._

Every memory of weakness she had, Luz is there. Triumphs and failures, Luz is _always_ there. She needs this. She can’t let it go. Can’t risk it.

_Luz deserves to know exactly what she means to the people who do care about her._

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about. Kind of.” Amity found her mouth moving without her explicit consent, which was concerning to say the least. For a brief moment she wanted to suck the words back in, cast a memory charm, _anything_ . But then Luz froze, just a split second spent processing before turning towards her, attentive as ever. _No going back now._

“Is… Something wrong?”

Gone were the bubbly jokes and jibes, along with her carefree rambling. Luz seemed so serious, and in one horrible instant their meeting transformed from something casual to what it really was. For the first time since Amity arrived on her doorstep some of the apprehension the witch felt within herself seemed mirrored in the human that sat beside her, and that simply would not do.

Amity twisted, grabbing for Luz’s hand and holding it tight. “No! No, not at all. At least, I don’t think so.” Her throat felt swabbed in cotton as she tried to swallow down her nerves. If she held on to Luz’s hand tight enough, maybe the shaking would stop. “I just think it’s time I was honest with you. What Eda said really got to me, I guess.”

Whatever tentative impulses Luz had been taken by a moment before, they were washed away in a flash by the mention of her mentor’s name. “What did she say?” She took a breath then tacked on harder yet, “If she was messing with you, I’m serious Ams, I’ll kick her ass. What did she-”

“Luz.” 

It was barely more than a whisper, but whatever might have followed died in Luz’s throat.

“She wasn’t teasing. It was something I think I needed to hear.” Amity shifted so she was sitting cross-legged and facing her head on. 

She took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. 

“This is something you deserve to hear too. After everything we’ve been through, after this past weekend, it seems so stupid to keep it all bottled up. And you _know_ how much I prefer bottling things up.” _You can do this._ _This is it._ “Luz, you’re the most important person in my life. I don’t know who I’d be without you and I don’t care to find out. In my worst moments you never fail to make things better and when those moments come around you’re the only one I want near me. In my good moments you’re the fearless champion I only thought existed in storybooks, lifting me up and I- I-”

Amity dug the heel of her palm against her traitorous eyes, suddenly leaking without her permission.

“I’m sick of pretending that you’re just a friend to me, because you’re not. You’re so much more, so much that I can’t even put it into words. And I’m sorry if this seems overly dramatic but you deserve to know exactly how much- _Oof_!”

Two strong arms yanked her upright, then crushed her against Luz’s chest. Her arms hung listless at her sides while her mind churned through the vertigo before surging up to return the embrace. She held tight to the back of the human’s shirt and clung there as if she might disappear if not anchored. There was a face buried in the crook of her shoulder and, _oh_ , that was Luz, huh? Which meant the lips grazing against the skin of her neck were hers too.

 _“_ Amity… _Te amo mucho. Eres mi alma, la única persona que quiero a mi lado. Siento lo mismo.”_

Amity shivered at the feeling, even if the meaning was lost on her. She hiccuped, “You _know_ I don’t understand Spanish.”

Luz pulled away, only far enough to lift a hand to Amity’s cheek. Her thumb ran softly against her cheekbone and Amity leaned into the touch. Warmth radiated between them, and backlit by the setting sun Luz was glowing like the ray of sunshine Amity had always equated her to, somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind.

The human opened her mouth to speak, but whatever she might have said was cut off by a shout in the distance.

Amity and Luz’s heads whipped sideways in tandem, just in time to see a haggard-looking demon stumble off of his staff along the pathway that led from the Owl House towards the town. Where two horns once arched proudly away from his brow, one was now broken and oozing purple ichor at its base. His robes were tattered and singed around the edges, one arm held limp against his side. As he dismounted he stumbled, catching himself at the last moment by digging the butt of his staff into the earth and throwing his weight against it.

“Lo-Loy-”

He hacked, knees still threatening to buckle.

“Loyalists! Attacking Bonesboro!”

Amity’s grip on Luz tightened until her fingernails were digging into Luz’s back. Hooty, a forgotten footnote in the distance, swung the door open and wormed his way inside to relay the message.

“Please!” The demon rasped. “They told me to send to you for aid.”

All at once the sounds of barely-forgotten battles descended on both young women, invading their senses. The smell of fire and char clogged their noses, the pleas for help filled their ears. The crackle of spell circles being drawn followed by the life-altering blasts of them being fulfilled. It had been months, but not long enough to forget.

Amity moved one hand from Luz’s back to her hip, the other securing itself behind her neck, propping herself up as she raised onto her tiptoes. She pressed a kiss, as firm and meaningful as time would allow, to the corner of Luz’s mouth. “We can continue this later, yes?”

Luz, caught between starstruck amazement and the dour shroud of obligation, nodded. “Yeah.”

Looking back towards the Owl House, Eda and Lilith were already spilling out onto the lawn, Luz’s pouch of glyphs in hand.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Luz held onto Eda’s staff with a white-knuckle grip, head tucked down and away from her mentor’s lashing hair and the wind that ripped around them. She could count on one hand the number of times she had experienced the fullest extent of exactly how fast Owlbert could fly. Through squinting eyes she peeked to her left where Lilith and Amity flew in tandem and found them much the same. In the distance behind them smudges of thick, black smoke floated over the bay. 

_Alright, don’t spill me, Eda_ , she thought to herself before forcing one hand to uncurl from its iron grip.

With careful, measured movements she pulled her scroll from its own pouch beside her glyphs, hunching forward against the buffeting wind and flicked it open with her thumb.

**Nerd Squad**

**Luz:** Are you guys in town? Safe? What’s going on?

Anxiety roared in her gut like an enraged slitherbeast as she waited for a response. _Come on, come on…_ Her leg twitched, desperate to bounce or fidget but that was next to impossible on a staff.

Her scroll pinged.

**Willow:** were about to engage. assume ur otw. finance district.

 **Gus:** hurry pls

 **Luz:** eta 2

Luz tucked her scroll away and shouted over the wind, “Take us to the Finance District!”

Eda didn’t respond, but she did raise her hand to flag Lilith before banking to the right and changing course. Luz took a deep, steadying breath in a valiant attempt to tamp down her nerves. This was far from her first time diving headfirst into an unknown conflict, but she had hoped that her last battle had been just that. Her _last_.

She allowed herself another glimpse at Amity, jolted when she found golden eyes staring back. Luz forced a small smile, rueful but reassuring. Amity smiled back. Luz knew the witch could hold her own so she didn’t let herself worry, even if the slitherbeast still currently parading through her insides seemed to think that was a good idea right now. 

They just needed to get through this fight, keep the townsfolk safe. That had to be her priority right now, even if privately she would have traded every piece of Azura merch in her collection to be standing back on the cliffs. There would be plenty of time for that later, though. Looking down below them, rooftops and empty streets blurred past. Only four years of familiarity with the town was enough to tell her they were getting close. Eda began to slow, eyes scanning.

“There!” Lilith shouted, pointing ahead. “The vaults!”

Luz’s head snapped up, wincing as the slitherbeast dug in its claws.

They hovered for just a moment, carefully assessing the situation for as long as they could while remaining out of easy casting range. The vaults were a collection of thick, stone buildings, only two stories high but extending far down into the bedrock below and situated at the back of a wide plaza that made up the heart of the district. There was one way in and one way out, a pair of dark wooden doors at the rear of a small flagstone terrace, perched atop a short flight of stairs that stretched across its length. She didn’t need to guess why Loyalist forces would be massing here. The vaults held all the riches Bonesboro had to offer, or at least those that weren’t hidden under floorboards somewhere. That made sense. 

What made absolutely _no_ sense was why there were so many.

Luz guessed between two and three dozen witches and demons, clad in black robes and golden masks, had pushed the defenders back onto the steps. They seemed to have made some sort of hasty barricade, desks pulled from inside the vaults perhaps, and were just barely holding the line, outnumbered three-to-one. She watched as a massive vine broke through the pavement and slammed down, forcing a handful of Loyalists back while others pressed in on the opposite side.

“Ready?” Eda called out, voice cracking like a whip and loud enough for Lilith and Amity to hear.

“Ready,” all three chorused back.

“Alright, let’s party then.”

Eda and Lilith tipped forward in sync, rocketing across the plaza. Shouts of alarm mixed with cheers floated up to them, music to Luz’s ears. The older witches pulled up sharp over the terrace, Luz and Amity leaping from the back of their staves in a fluid, practiced movement. Amity had her spell circle drawn by the time her feet hit the ground, just as Luz’s fingertips were brushing against the sheaves of paper within her glyph pouch.

“Abominations, _fight_!”

Luz ducked behind the nearest barricade, clapped her hands together around an ice glyph then popped up to fire a volley of spikes towards the attacking line. She watched as three abominations rose up through the pavement in front of her and charged into the crowd, accompanied by three very convincing illusion companions. 

_She has_ really _been practicing her illusions, huh?_

A body settled in beside her, panting with exhaustion and breaking her back into the moment. “About time you got here.”

Willow threw up another wall of vines, crashing down on the Loyalists like a wave. Luz was quick to fish out a fire glyph drawn over a tracking glyph, sending a ball of flames roaring towards the vines, checking to make sure they caught before responding. “That was literally the fastest we’ve ever made it to town. Blame the demon you sent to get us.”

“We didn’t-” An answering ball of Loyalist fire smashed into the desk they hid behind to the tune of it splintering and smoldering. Willow grabbed Luz by the arm and pulled her back onto the terrace. “ _We_ didn’t send anyone, but I’m glad you’re here.”

Chaos swirled around them as the defenders threw out spells as quickly as they could call them into existence. Luz risked a glance further down the steps to where Eda and Lilith were casting in tandem, pushing back the attackers on the other end of the line. A bright yellow bolt of energy was flung from Eda’s staff, trademark owl maw opening up to swallow one Loyalist who’d drawn too close, while Lilith summoned a bubble of blue light to shield her from a bolt of their own. 

Amity materialized beside them, arms outstretched and swathed in a purple glow as she moved her abominations this way and that, with Gus following close behind. “What’s the situation?”

“Three-pronged attack,” Willow spoke terse and quick, keeping her eyes glued to the situation before them. “The Capitol and council are secure. There was an uprising near the Library too from what I’ve heard, but it’s quelled. I think the rest came here.”

“On your left!” Gus flung his hands up, calling a shield just in time to catch an explosive blast as the other three ducked.

“Nice save,” Amity coughed, waving the smell of smoke and sulfur away.

Once Willow got her first good look at the other witch she huffed. “That’s not exactly what I would call ‘Battle Attire.’”

Amity opened her mouth to bite back but instead winced as a spear of rock and dirt shot up through one of her abominations. It sank back into the ground only briefly before she reanimated it, sweat beading on her brow. “Believe it or not, this wasn’t on my schedule. It’s actually the exact _opposite_ of how I hoped my evening would go.”

“Mood,” Luz muttered under her breath, still firing glyphs left and right. 

Even the heat of battle wasn’t enough to keep a blush from blooming in Amity’s cheeks, which Willow clocked immediately. The plant prodigy smirked. “Well, in that case I guess we better wrap this up, huh?”

“Form up?” Gus asked, more excited than he should have been.

“Form up.” Willow gestured to the mob. “They’re taking losses and we’re more evenly matched. If we push from the right, Eda and Lilith can rout them on the left.”

The other three nodded. Willow’s plans had kept them alive too many times to start doubting her now.

Willow grabbed a passing witch by the elbow, one Luz didn’t recognize but like all of those brave enough to stand with them prayed to the Titan for his safety. He was easily twice their age, hair beginning to turn more silver than blue at his temples and a bruise already blooming on his forehead. He looked at the four of them with respect, rather than the derision teenagers in the midst of battle should have deserved, which was something Luz didn’t think she would ever get used to.

“Middle of the line needs to cover us, we’re pushing out. Pass word down to Eda and Lilith to be ready. They’ll know what you mean.”

He nodded, no argument, waiting for more.

“Go.”

And he went.

Gus moved to stand off of Willow’s left shoulder, and Luz took up position behind Amity’s right. They moved in sync, a fine-tuned machine oiled by practice and terrible memories. As Amity shifted forward Luz followed, mirroring her motions as if attached by a magnetic field. Spikes of stone flew towards them from across the line but Luz ignored them, instead summing a thorn-laden vine to swing into two Loyalists blocking their path around the barricade. She knew Amity would cover her, and the sound of splintered pebbles scattering across the ground was all the proof she needed that it was confidence well kept.

Amity consolidated her abominations before them, dropping her illusions and summoning two more corporeal golems in their wake. Willow wrapped her arms in living vines that lashed out in every direction, sweeping Loyalists off their feet and flinging them into the air. As they stepped across the line and into open territory, Gus called forth a fog to settle over the attacking forces, obscuring their vision as Luz began to throw fire and ice and stone as fast as she could pull the glyphs, pummeling the mob with an elemental barrage.

They might have been the world’s smallest phalanx, but goddamn if it wasn’t effective. 

Luz’s attention was split between the attack and Amity, ever conscious of how her counterpart was moving. As the witch stepped forward with her right foot, Luz followed with her left. When her arm swung wide Luz shifted back, surging forward with spears of ice on the rebound. Like clockwork, like the moon and the tides they pressed on and the figures before them began to fall back.

“Barricade, keep pushing!” Willow roared, vine-clad arms lashing out. Bursts of yellow and blue light illuminated the fog as the Loyalists clogged up in the trap they had laid for them.

From somewhere behind them a voice shouted, “They’re falling back!”

Luz was careful to step around the pools of blood and viscera that now littered the paving stones, keeping her eyes on the figures upright before them instead of those slumped and tattered on the ground. Amity stepped forward, eyes fixed on her abominations, and skidded as her foot slipped in one of the congealing puddles. She held her stance, recovered quickly, but the featherlight touch of Luz’s hand on her hips was still welcome reassurance that the human would not let her fall. 

Only half of the Loyalist force remained, others either fallen or fled. It was almost over. 

“Let’s finish this,” Amity huffed, staggering her abominations along the line instead of at their fore, pressing into the mob with swinging fists and groans, forcing them to backpedal.

Someone on the attacking line called for retreat, and a handful turned to flee. One masked figure closest to them shouted, “There she is!” 

Luz’s heart dropped.

As he began to call a crackling white circle in the air, her eyes darted to Amity, consumed with working five golems in tandem.

“Shield, shield!” Luz cried out, frantic, because she was used to the Emperor’s cronies aiming for her, the human, the wild witch, a very public head of the rebellion. 

This time, even through the slits of his mask, she could tell that this one was aiming for Amity. 

Gus spun to face them a second too late, the fog fading into wisps. The spell circle was complete and a searing bolt of electrical energy surged through the air. Luz jumped forward to meet it.

Amity could only watch in abject horror as Luz stood above her, arms outstretched and back to the Loyalists, screaming out a horrible, ripping wail as the bolt landed home. Electrical energy tore across her skin. The human convulsed, muscles locking in place as she crumpled motionless to the ground.

“No,” Amity choked, unwilling to accept the smoking figure on the pavement before her. “No! **_No!_** ”

Her scream of rage and horror and _sorrow_ echoed across the battlefield and ended in a wail that seemed to still those on both lines, if only for half a heartbeat. When she opened her eyes once more they burned with bright, purple energy. Beams of light shot up from the ground, one, five, a dozen, as abominations surged forward, summoned not from a circle but from the well of disbelief inside her.

With the other Loyalists forgotten, the mass of purple clay converged on one in particular and tore him limb from limb.

Amity fell to her knees, numb to the hands that tried to catch her, tried to shake her, eyes unseeing lest they fall on the singed and broken body of her love. 

Her ears rang, she was cold, cold to the bone and shaking with it. 

“Luz? _Luz_ ! Talk to me kid!” Eda’s voice was muted in her ears as if the older witch was speaking underwater. Amity wasn’t sure when she had arrived, was blind to the defenders now emerging from behind the barrier, clustering behind them. Some part of her was aware of Eda kneeling down as well, mindless of the wreckage of gore the battlefield had become. “She’s... She’s not breathing. _She’s not breathing!_ ”

Amity’s vision swam, blackness beginning to flood in from the edges, tunneling before her. The abominations melted into the ground as she swayed from side to side, exhaustion and the utter depletion of her magic taking its toll, and collapsed.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_Hallways… familiar bland hallways, the inside of the Healer’s coven rushed past her in a blur. Someone was carrying her…_

_“I can’t Lily, I can’t…" Eda’s voice choked with emotion, then Lilith’s. “It’s a… for one body to take…"_

_A cold, sterile room. Shuffling feet at her bedside…_

_Lilith again. “Someone… someone needs to inform Camila."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ):


End file.
